'Refrain from unnecessary remarks on movies': PM Modi tells BJP leaders
asks party workers to connect with all sections without worrying about votes
New Delhi, Jan 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked BJP members to reach out to every section of society, including minorities such as Bohras, Pasmandas and Sikhs, and work for them without electoral considerations, party sources said here.
In his address at the BJP national executive, which concluded with his remarks, Modi noted that nearly 400 days are left for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and asked party members to serve every section with full dedication in a speech described by several participants as his big vision to expand the saffron organisation and lead the country in every aspect.
Various party members who were part of the audience said the prime minister spoke highly of 'sufism' and also asked them to meet professionals from different walks of life and visit places like universities and churches to connect with them.
The prime minister said India's best era is coming and the party should dedicate itself to the country's development and turn "amrit kaal", the 25 year period to 2047, into "kartavya kaal" (era of duties).
Sources said he also cautioned the party against any sense of "overconfidence" and cited the example of the BJP's loss in Madhya Pradesh in 1998 despite the unpopularity of then Congress government led by Digvijaya Singh. Modi was then a key minder of the BJP's organisational affairs in the state.
He also suggested party workers refrain from making unnecessary remarks on irrelevant issues such as movies as they put the party's development agenda on the back-burner, the sources said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters that Modi, in his address to the BJP national executive meet, emphasised on reaching out to all sections of society and said his speech was not of a political leader but of a statesman underlining that kept the nation above the party.
The BJP is no longer merely a political movement but a social movement as well that is working to transform socioeconomic conditions," Modi told the executive, he said.
The prime minister said people in 18-25 age group have not witnessed the political history of India and are not aware of "corruption and wrongdoings" that took place under previous governments.
"So, they need to be made aware. Let them know about the good governance of the BJP," he said in an apparent swipe at the previous dispensations at the Centre.
Fadnavis said Modi also advised the party to conduct special programmes of its different 'morchas', especially in border villages so that it can connect with people there more and ensue that the government's developmental schemes reach them.
"The prime minister's speech was inspirational. It guided us as well as showed us a new roadmap. He asked us to dedicate every moment of our life to advance the country's development. Only by converting the 'amrit kaal' into 'kartavya kaal', the country can be taken forward," the Maharashtra leader said.
Emphasising on environment conservation, Modi instructed party workers that on lines of "Beti Bachao" campaign they have to start "Dharti Bachao" (save earth) campaign, Fadnavis said adding that the Prime Minister underlined the need to reduce dependency on fertilisers.
Modi referred to the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam, which was recently held in Varanasi, to celebrate ancient spiritual ties between the two regions and asked party members to connect with different cultures.
"Only those who take a pledge go on to create history. The BJP has to take a pledge and also to create history," he said.
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Rahul Gandhi calls Great Nicobar Island project a ‘major threat’ to environment, tribal heritage
Sri Vijaypuram (Port Blair)/ Nicobar: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the Centre’s development initiative in Great Nicobar Island on Wednesday, On his maiden visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gandhi alleged that the project will lad to large-scale environmental degradation and displacement of local communities.
The Rae Bareli MP, in a post on X after visiting the island, said the project would lead to extensive deforestation and adversely impact indigenous populations.
“So I will say it plainly, and I will keep saying it: what is being done in Great Nicobar is one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country’s natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime,” Gandhi added.
“The government calls what it is doing here a ‘Project’. What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe… It is communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away,” Gandhi said.
Describing the initiative as “destruction dressed in development’s language”, he termed it one of the “biggest scams” against the country’s natural and tribal heritage and called for it to be stopped.
Gandhi also claimed that nearly 160 square kilometres of rainforest could be affected, raising concerns over ecological damage.
