THE BJP is getting four lakh party workers with smartphones and 10,000 ‘social media commandos’ ready to ensure Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s virtual rallies reach the largest audience. Sources said the party is planning at least eight rallies of the PM, after October 15. “The number could go up to a dozen,” said a leader, adding that since huge rallies can’t be held due to the Covid curbs, they had to find other ways to get across the PM’s message.
The designated ‘social media commandos’ and the four lakh ‘smartphone warriors’ will hold charge of showing Modi’s speeches in every nook and corner of the state. The ‘commandos’ “monitor and manage” the ‘warriors’. The party leader said it was important that Modi reach out directly to voters as they had received feedback that people were concerned about the developments at the Indo-China border and the economic slowdown. “The Prime Minister is the most credible leader to talk on these issues. He will also be talking about the Centre’s programmes as we have a number of beneficiaries covered under direct benefit transfer in Bihar.”
As Bihar heads into an election that promises to be a battle of proxies fought between former and present allies, on the state’s economic conditions alone, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar seems to have a clear edge. The state has improved in the last five years in terms of growth of the gross state domestic product (GSDP), agriculture, expenditure on health and education, as well as infrastructure.
However, Bihar’s legacy problems such as minimal industrialisation, clean water, sanitation, open defecation, rural housing, and microfinance for small and marginal farmers continue.
In the first decade of Nitish as CM, between 2005-06 and 2014-15, the GSDP of Bihar at constant prices grew annually at 10.5%. While this spike was attributed to a low-base effect, the GSDP continued to grow at an average rate of 9.8%, higher than the national growth rate, even between 2010-11 and 2014-15.
