AdvaniCampus down with exam fever

Exam fever has hit the BJPs initiative of taking their prime ministerial candidate L K Advanis ideas to colleges and universities across India.....

Exam fever has hit the BJPs initiative of taking their prime ministerial candidate L K Advanis ideas to colleges and universities across India. Over a month after the launch of the campaign,AdvaniCampus,it is far behind its projected target of reaching out to nearly 5 lakh young voters by conducting a total of 5,600 programmes. The reason: most universities are shut ahead of exams.

So,even as the deadline for polling is fast approaching the first phase begins from April 16 the programme has hit a stumbling block. With students busy preparing for their exams,colleges remain empty. In some colleges,students dont want to be distured during the last leg of their academic syllabi. In Delhi University,the exams begin by the end of April.

The main objective behind AdvaniCampus is to sell the idea of an ageing L K Advani as the next prime minister to the youth. He has the experience of 80 and enthusiasm of 20, proclaims the handbill for the programme,run by a dedicated team of 100 volunteers,shortlisted from among 6,500 participants who registered at Advanis portal.

But ever since the programme was launched at a hostel in Jawaharlal Nehru University,Delhi,on February 20,the campaign has covered only 508 campuses across the country. In Delhi,the party has covered 49 institutes so far.

However,Rajeev Babbar,who is coordinating the effort,claimed that the programme is on track. He added: Till March 23,we focused on colleges and universities,but now most of the universities are shut ahead of exams.

So,the party is now changing gears and remodelling the programme,searching for new and smaller campuses which will include the neighbourhood institutes from those conducting English speaking courses to the ones training cabin crew for airlines as well as local health clubs and gymnasiums.

Our volunteers are reaching out to their contacts in these institutes. We are talking to management training institutes,air-hostess academies and other training institutes, said Babbar. Our target for this week is to hold the programme in at least 10 institutes in the first week itself, he added.

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Among those in the list in Delhi are the Geeta Ratan Insitute of Advanced Studies in Rohini a teachers training college affiliated with Indraprashta University,and MRV Academy in Dwarka.

The programme is just catching momentum now that the candidates have been decided. So we arent disheartened, said Babbar. Explaining the concept,he added: It is a sort of informal forum where we present the BJPs ideas through a presentation and discuss Advanijis vision for young India.

The session starts with a presentation that discusses the UPA rule,touching on terrorism,economic meltdown,weak alliances,and a weak prime minister. Then it goes on to discuss the NDAs achievements,with images of Pokharan,Golden Quadrilateral,Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and so on. The last bit of the presentation focusses on the BJPs objectives. The floor is then thrown open for discussion.

The students are curious about BJPs stand on Ayodhya,reservation,economic policies and various other issues, said Babbar. At the end of the session,the students are given a feedback form. Their phone numbers and contact address are taken for sending out motivational SMSes later.