This Article is From Jan 28, 2017

Truth vs Hype Of BJP's 20 Lakh 'Messengers' In Uttar Pradesh

In Kairana, BJP leader Hukum Singh's team claimed to have 20-member teams in 256 booths.

Kairana, Uttar Pradesh: BJP President Amit Shah's core campaign mantra in Uttar Pradesh - or any poll-bound state - has been to extend the reach of the BJP right down to the level of electoral booths, the most basic unit of election management.

The BJP claims that over the past two years, under Mr Shah's instructions, they have created teams of about 20 members each for almost all of the state's 1.47 lakh booths, to more effectively spread the party's message on the ground. That suggests a mini-army of close to 27 lakh BJP 'messengers', an outcome, the BJP says of its massive enrollment drive.

We attempted a limited straw poll to test these claims in western Uttar Pradesh, which votes in the first round of the state's elections.

At the home of Lok Sabha MP Hukum Singh, one of the BJP's senior leaders and a seven-time MLA from the Kairana seat, his party workers show us proof of their booth management. They claim to have appointed 20-member committees each in 256 of the constituency's 300 booths.

We were sent to examine one such booth committee - the biggest, according to Mr Singh's team - in a school in Kairana's Uncha village. No one in the school had heard of a BJP booth. Instead, we came across a voter awareness drive conducted by the local administration.

Using details provided by Mr Singh's team, we dialled a random selection of booth committees - the head as well as individual members.

The heads of booth committees almost without exception picked up the call, like Sumer Singh of Booth 62, Neeraj Kumar of Booth 57, and Surajveer Singh of Booth 63. They all said they were members of the BJP and had been working to spread its message for the past two months. But when we dialled members of those committees, the results were mixed.

Kavita Devi, listed as a member of Booth 62 committee flatly denied she was a member of the BJP, or of the committee. She said she had no idea how her name made it on the list.

Madan Singh, listed as a BJP member of Booth 57 said he was now with the Rashtriya Lok Dal party, a rival of the BJP. He said he had crossed over a week ago.

Sunder, listed as a member of Booth 63 said he fully supports the BJP but he is unsure what work he is supposed to do. "I want to know who our neta (leader) is. I called the toll-free number they gave me but they failed to provide information."

At least two numbers we dialled said they were non-functional.

In the neighbouring Baghpat vidhan sabha seat, we get a similar list from Yogesh Dhama, the BJP's candidate.

They only share with us numbers of heads of committees, not its members. Out of the four committee heads we dialled, three said they were very much part of the BJP. One Manoj Yadav said he was no longer in that role.

Our straw poll suggests that claims made by political parties are not matched by ground reality. Even so, the BJP still appears to have better grassroots management than most other parties, just not to the extent it may claim.

(For more, watch Truth vs Hype: Decoding the BJP's UP Gameplan, 9:30 pm Saturday, 7:30pm Sunday NDTV 24x7)
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