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Delhi BJP aims to induct 15 lakh new members

NEW DELHI: BJP 's membership drive has got off to a brisk start with the party enrolling more than 56 lakh members within two weeks of the launch of party president Amit Shah 's ambitious plan to consolidate BJP's political domination.Feedback from across the country pooled on Wednesday evening by Arun Singh, national secretary of the party who is the co-convener of the membership campaign, showed that enrolments were racing towards the 60 lakh mark. While impressive by itself because of the speed, party leaders consider it just the beginning of the exercise which aims to turn the BJP into the world's largest political party.Party sources quoted Shah as saying that workers should aim to overtake Communist Party of China. CPC's membership stands at 8.3 crore though the humungous number has been achieved by the rule that all members of People's Liberation Army and the bureaucracy have to enroll as party members for life.BJP, with 3.5 crore members, claims to be the country's largest political party. However, party sources admit that the numbers were not a reliable indicator of the BJP's actual strength because of the casualness that characterized enrolment. "There has been no regular connect with even active members, many of whom don't have even identity cards," a senior party functionary said.As against this, Shah aims to raise an apparatus which can be kept on permanent alert mode. "Anybody can get enrolled by giving a missed call to the toll-free number. The party calls back and thus begins the process of regular communication between the party and the member. We can keep the cadre engaged through messages and by sending information on party's programmes, achievements of our governments etc. For his part, the member can give us feedback," Arun Singh said.The intense connectivity is crucial to Shah's plan for real-time politics and for strengthening weak organizational muscle in states like Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. The BJP chief's successes — sweep of UP in Lok Sabha polls and formation of first-ever BJP governments in Maharashtra and Haryana — owe a lot to his emphasis on setting up booth committees to translate Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's appeal into votes for BJP. He is now focused on turning such committees into permanent bodies engaed in permanent politics rather than units which were hastily assembled at election time only to fall into disuse once the job was done. "Motivating workers become easier if the party stays engaged with them," Arun Singh said.As a result, the nature of the enrolment drive has changed from an organizational affair of the BJP to a mass campaign. Shah, who went into such nitty-gritty as finalizing "Sashakt Bhajapa, Sashakt Bharat (a powerful BJP means a powerful India) logo of the campaign, has rolled out a big operation where all big leaders – from chief ministers and Union ministers and their counterparts in states to MPs and MLAs – are required to work for the formation of committees for their respective booths.Every state unit has been asked to ensure that each of their cells — units which cater to specific constituencies such as women, SCs, farmers — deploys 300 'vistaraks' or expansion agents, Shah's organizational innovation, for the week-long "knock-on-each-door" campaign.Besides a publicity blitz which includes advertisements in print and electronic media and on social media, the party plans to hold mass contacts at bus and railway stations, organize essay and blog competitions, hold street plays and rope in celebrities.The progress of the membership campaign which ends on March 31 is being monitored at various levels, with Shah cautioning against fudging of numbers. In fact, he has laid emphasis on enrolment through technology as it is easily verifiable.The selection of active members — one has to enroll 25 members to qualify — will take place in April.