LUCKNOW: Narendra Modi 's rallies have become a talking point for the huge crowds of supporters they attract. But, to draw people to rally grounds is not a simple job. In addition to Modi's charisma, it was an army of dedicated BJP workers that worked tirelessly to make BJP prime ministerial candidate's rallies at Kanpur, Jhansi and Bahraich a mega success.

Drafted from the three Lok Sabha constituencies, these workers brought the arithmetic behind the success of the rallies into focus. Beginning from Modi's Jhansi rally that covered four Lok Sabha constituencies of Bundelkhand region, the party was able to activate approximately 1.20 lakh workers to mobilise the two lakh-plus gathering that was seen at the Government Inter College ground at Jhansi.

To activate these 1.20 lakh workers, the party took over two weeks and around 2,000 meetings from state to booth level. Elaborating on the rally arithmetic, state BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpayi said, "Each Lok Sabha constituency has approximately 1,500 booths. While the district level committee has around 90 members, there are approximately 60 members at party's mandal level. Similarly, at ward/booth level committees, the party has on an average 20 members. All this combined to become approximately 30,000 workers and leaders from one Lok Sabha constituency. Since, Jhansi rally covered three other Lok Sabha seats of the region (Banda, Hamirpur and Jalaun) the party activated 1.20 lakh workers."

For political observers, the simple arithmetic behind rally crowds also speaks of the need to focus further on strengthening the organisation right up to the booth level before the BJP actually goes into election mode. Party's UP in charge Amit Shah has laid stress on strengthening booth level committees ever since he came to UP a few months back, said a party leader.

Similarly, at Kanpur (covering six LS seats) and Bahraich (five LS seats), on an average nearly two lakh party workers were activated to make the rallies a huge success. To mobilise party workers and people at both the rallies, the party leaders held around 2,000 meetings, right from the state to the booth level. While in Kanpur, the gathering was claimed by BJP to be more than three lakh, in Bahraich the rally was attended by approximately 1.5 lakh people.

At each of the three rallies, party leaders said, over 5,000 vehicles were used to transport crowds from various places. "We become active for the rallies at least two weeks in advance," said BJP national media in charge Srikant Sharma. Every care is taken right from preparing the dais to energising IT cell workers. The good thing with Modi's programme is that people are willing to attend the rallies on their own. What the party workers have to do is to inform the people about the date and time of Modi's rally and provide transport if they live at far off places," Sharma added.

