Overseas Friends of BJP meet in Israel to help bolster party’s prospects in elections

PTI, Apr 17, 2024, 7:46 PM IST

Ahead of the polling for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in India, members of the Overseas Friends of BJP in Israel met here to discuss strategies to bolster the party’s poll prospects amid slogans like ‘Vande Maatram’ and ‘Abkee Baar 400 Paar’.

Campaigning ended on Wednesday for the first phase of general elections for 102 seats across 21 states and Union Territories on April 19, part of the seven-phase long Parliamentary exercise till June 1 for a total of 543 seats across the nation.

Some 80 members of the Overseas Friends of BJP in Israel (OFBJP) met at the Tandoori Indian restaurant of Pravasi Bharatiya Award winner Reena Pushkarna in Herzliya, an affluent coastal town in northern Israel on Tuesday evening.

The gathering was given a detailed account of the achievements of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government during the last 10 years, prominent among them being the repeal of Article 370, the construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, the Statue of Unity in Gujarat and the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Chants of ‘Vande Maatram,’ ‘Abkee Baar 400 Paar,’ ‘Fir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar,’ and ‘Jai Shree Ram’ were intermittently heard during the programme where the gathering was encouraged to communicate the same with their relatives and friends in India to encourage them to vote for BJP to help it achieve the goal of crossing 400 parliamentary seats.

Oren Benjamin, an active member of OFBJP, kicked off the programme by raising awareness among the members of the group about the terror attack on Israel on October 7 and asking everyone to observe a two-minute silence in the memory of innocent people and soldiers killed during that.

Pushkarna, who is also the chairperson of the OFBJP in Israel, was also congratulated for the Pravasi Bharatiya Puraskar and for her decades of service “in strengthening and nurturing Indo-Israel ties” even as she outlined the achievements of India’s foreign policy under the Modi government with emphasis on its strengthening ties with Israel.

The organisation is planning a rally in Israel after the Passover next week, Reena told PTI. Passover is one of the three traditional pilgrimage festivals in Israel.

Benjamin also shared with members the information about several new schemes that the Modi government plans to take up.