The pledge pamphlet The pledge pamphlet

In the run-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on September 17, Prakash Gurjar, a member of BJP Yuva Morcha, has been distributing pamphlets in neighbourhoods across Ahmedabad, asking people to “pledge” that they will not criticise the administration.

Called the ‘Sankalp Patra’, the pamphlets ask people to pledge that “from today, I will throw garbage and dirt in the dustbin, will not dirty my country and not let anyone dirty the country” and “I will not prejudicially criticise the administration that is formed of the people, by the people and for the people”.

“Since 2013, I have been planning events around Narendrabhai’s birthday. Every year, we aim for creating a Guinness World Record. This year, we decided to work on ‘sankalp to siddhi’ and therefore decided to collect at least eight to nine lakh pledges,” Gurjar said.

The process of distributing pamphlets began 10 days ago with Gurjar and his team distributing them outside railway station, malls, theatres, schools and colleges. On Tuesday, a team of 500 people, who are part of Gurjar’s NGO — Madadgar Pariwar Foundation — started collecting forms.

Gurjar, who joined the BJP in 2012 after leaving Congress, said that there was “nothing political” in it. “We wanted to take the Swacch Bharat campaign, launched by the PM, forward, and ask people to appreciate the positive work of the Modi government. We are not forcing people to sign the forms. Many people come to us and ask us, and we explain. After that if they feel comfortable, they agree and sign the pledge,” he said. “There are good politicians in the country and we must praise their work…That is why, I am asking people to pledge that they will not criticize the government in a biased manner,” he added.

In 2013, Gurjar had organised an eye-donation pledge campaign to celebrate Modi’s birthday. He claimed that then too his campaign made it to the Guinness World Record. In 2014, he made a 52-ft tall and 45-ft wide greeting card for Modi. He said that the card was auctioned and the money was sent to Jammu & Kashmir to help the 2014 flood victims. In 2015, Gurjar organised a ‘take selfie with beti’ campaign. Last year, he celebrated Modi’s birthday by forming “human map” of India with the help of 8,500 youngsters.

“I try to make records because it is matter of pride for the country. All of us want to be proud of the country,”said Gurjar, who is a law graduate.

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