Journalism of Courage
Ahead of the G20 Summit in Delhi, the BJP has launched a multi-purpose outreach programme with aims as diverse as showcasing India’s cultural heritage to visiting foreign dignitaries, pulling crowds for impromptu celebrations of India’s status as a rising world power, ‘sensitising’ citizens on good manners and paving the way for the party’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The party has constituted a 13-member ‘G20 Team’ in the capital to “assist the city and the country” in putting its best foot forward for the upcoming G20 Summit which, those associated with it maintained, is “non-political and national” in nature.
“The G20 Summit is everyone’s responsibility and so is ensuring that foreign dignitaries who will be visiting the country and the city to take part in it experience, and leave Delhi with, the best possible impression of it,” said its convenor, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) vice-president Satish Upadhyay.
“The team, like the event and the people on it, is non-political; the G20 is not a government programme but a national event. We have held meetings with several focus groups including students and government employees among many others on the need to make the summit and its events a success,” he also said.
According to Upadhyay, the team had recently reached out to students at Delhi University colleges and government employees, among other focus groups. Others such as resident welfare associations, women’s rights groups, doctors and even village panchayat members would be part of the initiative in the coming days.
While the objective of reaching out to these groups, according to Upadhyay, was to make them aware of the glory quotient of the summit, others associated with the programme said the other significant aim was also to ‘sensitise’ citizens.
A party source aware of the ‘other mandates’ of the party’s G20 Team said it would also organise “flash celebrations and displays of India’s cultural heritage” such as public rangoli competitions, dance and vocal performances near hotels hosting foreign dignitaries and the venues of events and meetings related to the summit.
These, the source added, would focus on underlining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “role in enhancing India’s image on the world stage” to the extent that it had been entrusted with hosting such a significant global event. This, by extension, would lay the foundation of the party’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the capital.
“While making citizens aware of the significance of the fact that India has got the opportunity to host the summit, we will also sensitise them regarding the need to maintain cleanliness, focus on sanitisation and treat visiting dignitaries with as much warmth as possible,” said Sunil Yadav, the co-convenor of the team.
“The team and its objective is certainly non-political, but an event of this stature cannot be held without expressing gratitude to PM Modi under whose leadership the country got this opportunity for the first time; there will be many programmes which will focus on this,” Yadav added.
