Opinion Bhupender Yadav on BJP’s 44th Foundation Day: A party built on Bharatiya ideals is propelling India into the future

As the BJP marks its 44th Foundation Day, it looks back at this journey with pride and looks ahead with a sense of responsibility towards fulfilling the aspirations of billions of people who have reposed faith in the party. What worked for the BJP at a time other parties imploded and disintegrated is that it succeeded in capturing people’s imagination by moulding itself along the core principles of Bharatiya society.

The BJP succeeded in steering politics away from class struggle to class coordination and harmonious coexistence — a facet exhibited in the party’s commitment to sabka saath, sabka vikas, taking shape under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. By imagining India as a unified whole that carries within it religions, cultures, castes, creeds, aspirations and dreams of all hues, which are uniquely Indian and inferior to none in the world, the BJP was able to reinstil a sense of pride that Indians carried before India was colonised.

The BJP was able to stay the course because it maintained discipline and laid a strong organisational foundation. Early in its journey, the BJP made a principle of “one person one post”. If a person became a part of the government, s/he did not enjoy an organisational role and vice versa. The rule applied to each leader irrespective of their position in the party. The party also largely stuck to the rule of “one family, one ticket” to ensure that it wasn’t taken over by a family. No other party follows a more elaborate programme to recruit, train and delegate responsibilities to the cadres.

The cadres are kept motivated through regular training programmes and assigned tasks that are reviewed through a meticulous process. Top positions in the BJP have been held by people who rose through the ranks and therefore, each member sees an avenue for growth. The party karyakartas remain motivated to reach out to people in exigencies. From natural disasters to sudden accidents, from distributing medicines and food during the Covid pandemic to ensuring inoculation through vaccines and benefits of schemes drafted by the government reaching the last man, the cadre works relentlessly to ensure the mission of the governance of saturation is realised in India’s Amrit Kaal. For the BJP, sewa hi sangathan (organisation means service).

Not too far back in the past, the BJP was dismissed as a regressive force that other parties treated as a “political untouchable”. But with principles and ideals that have been as clear as they have been unshakeable, the party has charted a course that has propelled India towards new innovations and new thinking — modern in outlook and truly Indian in ethos.

The BJP government has scripted a new chapter in gender justice. Women are no longer passive recipients, but they are now the front and centre of government policies. In Prime Minister Modi’s words, India is moving from women-centric development to women-led development. Our women are now leaders, participants in the labour force and the nerve centre of Indian society. They are guarding our borders and flying fighter jets with aplomb. Sainik schools have opened the doors for our daughters. Triple talaq stands outlawed.

We have expanded the purview of surrogacy laws, we have made technology the tool for delivery of governance and through direct benefit transfers fixed the problem of seepages in delivery chains. From policy formulation to the delivery of benefits, the BJP has ushered in an era of secular politics, where the welfare of all has replaced the appeasement of some.

Under PM Modi, the BJP has unleashed a social welfare programme which is unmatched in scale and ambition. The expansion of the welfare net also mirrors the dreams of every BJP worker.

The BJP’s journey had its lows and its share of defeats, but as PM Modi recently said, “This journey is a continuous one; this journey is the culmination of hard work, of the pinnacle of dedication and resolutions, of expansion of thought and ideology.”

The writer is Union Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change; and Labour & Employment