BJP’s best yet to come; very few parallels in Indian politics to party’s growth in Bengal: Nadda

PTI, Nov 7, 2021, 1:57 PM IST

New Delhi: Setting the tone for upcoming assembly elections in five states, BJP president JP Nadda on Sunday set targets to further strengthen the party’s organisation and asserted that its best is yet to come.

Addressing the party’s national executive, Nadda also reached out to Sikhs, who are in majority in poll-bound Punjab, by listing a number of measures the Modi government has taken for the community, including expediting action against 1984 riots accused, facilitating foreign grants to gurudwaras and keeping langars outside the review of the Goods and Services Tax.

Briefing reporters about the meeting, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the executive hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effective leadership during the Covid pandemic, 100 crore vaccinations and providing free food grains to 80 crore poor people.

He said that Nadda noted that this is the largest food programme in human history.

On BJP’s growth in West Bengal, Pradhan quoting Nadda said if one looks at its growth in the state from the political science perspective, then there will be very few parallels of it in Indian political history.

According to Pradhan, Nadda said that if one looks at the BJP’s vote share in the 2014 assembly elections and the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal, and compares them with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2021 assembly polls, it shows substantial growth of the BJP in the state. Setting new organisation targets for the BJP’s expansion, Nadda said the party will constitute booth level committees at all 10.40 lakh polling stations by December 25 this year and have ”panna committees”, in reference to each page of voters’ list by April 6.

Citing the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Pradhan said the executive lauded Modi for his foresight of enacting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which aims at providing citizenship to minorities in some neighbouring countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The chief minister of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, presented the party’s political resolution while national general secretary Tarun Chugh read out the condolence resolution. Prime Minister Modi will address the valedictory session of the meet.

The BJP’s national executive meeting, which should be normally held once in three months according to the party’s constitution, is being held for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The party’s national office-bearers, its national executive members from the national capital and Union ministers will be physically present in the meeting, while the chief ministers of states where the party is in power and national executive members from these states will virtually attend the meeting.

At the NDMC Convention Centre, the meeting venue, musicians from across the country played traditional instruments to greet those attending the meet.

Prime Minister Modi while entering the venue met women, who in their traditional Chath attire and singing songs praising the Sun god, performed puja and rituals.

Chath will be performed in many parts of the country, especially in eastern parts of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand on November 10 .