By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
With 2019 general elections just a year away, the Bharatiya Janata Party has already started preparations and the foundation for the same is being laid in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi. And what it seems that at least to begin with, the BJP is focusing on the first-time voters. The party is organising a rally titles “Yuva Udghosh” on January 20, in Varanasi, which is supposed to be one of the biggest political rallies of BJP since the 2017 state assembly elections.
The rally, which will be held on the grounds of Inter College of Diesel Locomotive Works, has a target audience between the age of 17 and 35. To make the rally successful, the party has managed to get around 13,000 participants till now through digital means. According to party sources, the rally is meant to attract the young voters about the various schemes of the state as well as the central government, both of which are led by BJP.
Sanjay Bhardwaj, the speaker of BJP’s Varanasi’s wing, informed the media that BJP’s national president Amit Shah will be present in the rally. Moreover, the rally is expecting the presence of party’s senior leaders along with the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to visit his constituency in the third week of the January, but according to the sources, party is also pursuing the PM to visit the rally held on January 20. According to the party sources, BJP will observe the Varanasi chapter of “Yuva Udghosh”, and if it registers a success, the party shall held the same rally in other parts of the country. The party is also seeking towards erecting as much as ten young volunteers at every polling station in 2019 general elections.
To make the rally successful, a payment of Rs 20 is being taken from young participants and they are being issued an identity card. The identity card will be used to allow admission at the rally place. Moreover, the rally will be used to create an index of the young voters so that they can be pursued at the time of election, said one BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.
The leader further said, “The party feels the rage among the middle aged and the elder people due to its various decisions like demonetisation and implementation of GST. So we have planned to focus on the young voters first, who haven’t faced any sort of problem because of government’s decisions. We will further move to other sections very soon.”
Party’s speaker Sanjay Bhardwaj further said, “The party is looking towards young voters as they are the one who will take country forward in coming times. We are thinking to link up young voters with the idea of Swami Vivekanand through digital means.”
Uttar Pradesh, with the 80 Lok Sabha seats, is one of the biggest battle zone when it comes to forming a government in the Centre. In 2014 elections, BJP won total 71 seats in the state, completely eclipsing other parties in the state.