BJP membership drive from September 1, Amit Shah calls for taking party ideology to every corner

PTI, Aug 18, 2024, 8:57 AM IST

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday exhorted party leaders to take the BJP’s ideology to all corners of the country, expressing confidence of its strong electoral prospects in the future.

Addressing a BJP meeting, where the party decided to embark on its membership drive from September 1, Shah noted that people have repeatedly expressed their faith in its governments in states and at the Centre, while rejecting the Congress, sources said.

At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the party aims to induct more than 10 crore members during the drive that will not cover the states going to polls in the coming months.

The party’s membership strength was 18 crore after the last such exercise, and Patra expressed hope that this number will be crossed when the process is over everywhere.

The BJP is expected to elect a new president after the drive is over in at least half of the states.

The meeting was attended by its national office-bearers, including party president J P Nadda, and key state organisational leaders.

It was like a training workshop for the membership drive, Patra said, adding the exercise will cover every caste, religion and community. It will be all-inclusive and all-encompassing, he said.

In a post on X, Nadda, who chaired the meeting, said the “comprehensive campaign will engage everyone, from top leadership to booth-level workers, and will offer every segment of society the opportunity to connect with the Bharatiya Janata Party.” “Guided by PM Narendra Modi Ji’s principle of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’ it promises to be an inclusive initiative that unites people under our shared vision,” he said.

Patra said BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde will be the convenor of the drive and party’s vice president Rekha Verma the co-convenor.

Shah in his address noted that the BJP is a cadre-based party driven by a robust ideology. He stressed that the party’s continued hard work for expansion has taken it to its present preeminent position in national politics from the merely two Lok Sabha seats it won in 1984, sources said.

He said the BJP governments in states and at the Centre were often re-elected, unlike the Congress which has a poor track record in retaining power.

The Congress does not exist as a serious political force in many states now, he said, according to the sources.

Patra said the new members will be made through four methods – calling a soon-to-be-announced mobile number, scanning QR code, by NaMo app and through the BJP’s website.

However, in remote areas the party will use traditional paper method to enroll the new members, he added.