The BJP is planning three-week grand celebrations to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday and his 20 years of public life as an administrator by distributing crores of ration bags with his picture and sending five crore postcards among others but it has run into criticism from the Opposition, which says it is a "tragedy" that he is celebrating when people are "suffering in misery".
From September 17, Modi's birthday, and October 7, when he became Gujarat Chief Minister on the same day 20 years ago, the BJP is planning a flurry of activities, which is expected to act as a morale booster for the BJP cadre at a time the party is headed to Assembly polls in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur where it is the ruling party. Modi turns 71 next week.
The party's programmes titled 'Seva aur Samarpan Abhiyan' come at a time Modi and his government have faced intense criticism over the handling of the second wave of Covid-19 and migrant crisis during the first lockdown last year, economic problems, farmers issues and amid a perception even within the party that the developments had created a dent in the Prime Minister's popularity.
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