New Delhi: As talk builds of the BJP turning into the world's largest party, courtesy a huge phone-driven recruitment mission, the party has placed a massive electronic billboard outside its headquarters in Delhi showing how quickly its numbers are growing.
On display is the latest count for people who have signed up; a second set of digits show how many people have indicated, though a missed call, that they would like membership.
BJP leaders say that the sweet spot of the numbers lies in a 5-7 per cent growth in seven states including West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu, where the party has been weak.
Five months ago, party chief Amit Shah set a target of 10 crore members to be registered by the end of March - a one-month extension has been sanctioned. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the dial-a-membership drive in November by dialing a mobile phone number to renew his membership.
As of Sunday, the BJP had registered 8.8 crore members, said officials, with one crore allegedly being added in just the last eight days. The Communist Party of China has 8.6 crore members, and has now been pushed to second place. Mr Shah is expected to announce the details of the membership drive when it concludes on April 30.
Opposition parties like the Congress say the BJP is guilty of artificially inflating its numbers by adding people unilaterally to its database. "It is the world's biggest missed call party," said Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed.
The BJP denounces those allegations and says the next step will be door-to-door verification where membership forms will be handed out. Then, a massive training program will be held for more than 15 lakh active members.