Reaching out, every way: BJP’s vote share blueprint

With elections in mind, the ruling party has embarked on a mega outreach programme, involving public servants and party machinery, to appeal to new constituencies

New Delhi: It is a quiet winter morning at the historic intersection of the Mughal-era Meena Bazar, a Delhi market that has seen better days. 

At the market, fifty-one-year-old Kareem is intrigued by the sight of a van with a huge LCD. He is approached by a young man, who spends the next few minutes explaining to him the Modi government’s schemes that he can apply to and what benefits he can entail. 

In all, he could access schemes worth Rs 4 lakh rupees and more, he is told. “We do not know how these things work and we were never told but I now think I will ask my son to apply,” Kareem says. 

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 15, the objective of this programme, the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, is to drive all key central government schemes such as the Ayushman Bharat, Ujjwala Yojana, PM Suraksha Bima and PM SVANidhi to reach out to all the eligible beneficiaries.

In terms of electoral politics, this translates to a mega outreach programme undertaken by the Union government, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

By December 22, the Yatra had covered one lakh gram panchayats, reaching over 4.5 crore people, including 80 lakh in UP and 30 lakh in Maharashtra.

The two states together send 128 MPs to the Lok Sabha. That is a massive outreach, to the unreached, a grand beneficiary drive, topping up BJP’s existing beneficiary or labharthi vote bank.

The campaign particularly focuses on women-centric schemes, a constituency that the BJP has nurtured over the years. Thousands of new beneficiaries have enrolled while more than 42 lakh individuals have been screened in special health camps.

Earlier this week, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Congress working committee meeting observed that Congress’ vote bank did not increase in the states where the party lost elections to the BJP. The answer to the Gandhi scion’s query perhaps lies in these silent drives executed by both BJP-ruled states and the central government to connect to the grassroots.

This campaign bears striking similarities to Indira Gandhi’s 10-point programme, put in place during her heyday. Gandhi used the party’s organisational setup and the executive to deliver social sector schemes to the poor.  

The incremental change this sort of mechanism can bring in the vote share can be gauged from the BJP’s performance in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

A year ahead of the elections, the party established an online connect with booth managers in all 65,000 booths in Madhya Pradesh. It pressed its workers to increase the party’s vote share in each booth by at least 10 per cent. While the Congress vote share in the elections remained stagnant, BJP's vote share increased by more than 8 per cent.

Similarly, through the Viksit Bharat Yatra, the government plans to utilise various ministries and departments to cover all gram panchayats, nagar panchayats and urban local bodies.

Information on these national schemes is one of the key aims of the campaign. The Yatra also plans to share the personal stories and experiences of existing beneficiaries of schemes.

Government sources said that 2,500 vehicles have been sent across the country to reach out to people in more than ⁠2.5 lakh panchayats.

The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur says that the campaign has been mounted, keeping in mind the prime minister’s goal of a developed India by 2047 and ensuring people’s contribution to that goal.

“These vehicles are Modi ji’s guarantee and they are made to instil confidence among the youth, farmers, women, poor, entrepreneurs – every section of society which will together create a developed India. These guarantees are not like the Congress’s fake guarantees,” Thakur told DH.

“More than 4 crore pucca houses, 13 crore toilets and tap water to 14 crore houses have been made, health insurance of up to Rs 5 lakh is being provided annually to more than 60 crore needy people of the country and 5 kg free ration is being given every month to more than 80 crore people,” Thakur adds.

‘Happy beneficiary’ effect

The mass contact programme, without a doubt, has been launched keeping the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in mind. Whether it is the Mahila Morcha taking selfies with 1 crore beneficiaries or the OBC Morcha holding sammelans across the country, the BJP has been trying to leverage this ‘happy beneficiary’ effect ever since it witnessed the magic that the ‘ration to 16 crore beneficiaries during COVID’ phrase had in Uttar Pradesh in 2021.

As a result, to reap the benefits of the Viksit Yatra, the party has now deputed 71 central government ministers in a pravas programme across the country, under which they are deputed to spend a day or two in designated constituencies.

Party spokesperson Prem Shukla says that the aim is to reach the last voter in the country. “In the last few years, these welfare schemes of the Modi government have reached crores of people. Our aim now is to reach the last person and ensure that their hopes are valued. Our party prides itself on its developmental policies, and every vulnerable person should know that,” Shukla said.

He adds that from a development perspective, people have a right to know about these schemes. If they turn into BJP’s voters, then it is a win for both. “Kalyan ko janaadesh mein badla jaye, isse achcha kya ho sakta hai? (What is better than having development shape a voter’s mandate?)” Shukla asks.

Controversy

But the initiative has not gone unnoticed or without raising its share of controversy. In October this year, a government circular to depute bureaucrats as ‘district rath prabharis’, left the Opposition fuming.

Dated October 18 and circulated by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, a letter from the agriculture secretary read, “To coordinate for the preparation, planning, execution, monitoring of the Rath Yatra, they have decided to deploy joint secretaries, director, deputy secretaries of Govt of India as Rath Prabharis (special officers).” In all, 15 officers from the Delhi region were to be nominated for the purpose.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to PM Modi, asking him to withdraw the circular, since, he said, it was a clear violation of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, which directs that no government servant shall take part in any political activity. “While it is acceptable for government officers to disseminate information, to make them ‘celebrate’ and ‘showcase’ these achievements blatantly turns them into political workers of the ruling party,” he wrote.

In fact, during the winter session of Parliament, opposition MPs including TMC’s Saugata Ray and Pratima Mondal as well as Congress Vijaykumar Vasanth, asked the Prime Minister via a starred question in the Lok Sabha, if they sought the consent of these officers and if such a deployment of IAS officers had precedence.

In response, the Department of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said that there have been precedents. “In the past, nodal officers have been appointed for Jal Shakti Abhiyan and aspirational districts programme, amongst others, for facilitation and coordination. In the same manner, the government of India has appointed nodal officers at states/ districts for effective coordination of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra with state and district administrations,” the reply read.

Political analyst and author Rasheed Kidwai says that the idea of wooing a voter with government schemes has been done earlier, like the Congress’ campaigns around Indira Gandhi in the 1980s, which carried slogans like “Jaat pe na paat pe, Indira Gandhi ke saath pe” (No votes on caste or creed, vote for Indira Gandhi’s work).

“The idea of delinking a political party from its delivery of services is lost in nuance. Institutional mechanisms linked to personalities and parties have always been found in India. South politicians like Jayalalitha and MTR thrived on these. The BJP has understood it and aced the game. It is now for the Congress to find a way to tell the voter of what they have done. That is a huge challenge for them,” says Kidwai.

While for the voter, delinking the party from the welfare mechanism might not be easy, for the BJP, wooing them on the development plank is easier. The task, for the Congress and the Opposition, is now cut out.