India - for BJP,Advani banao='India Banao!'

Rajesh Sinha



NEW DELHI: The task of promoting and projecting BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani has been taken up by a platform floated by group of professionals who will organise conferences and interaction programs focusing on involving the youth.

This platform for the making of Advani has been named “India Banao!”. Care has been taken to keep it outside the BJP’s organisational structure, the only clear link to the party being its media cell convener Nalin Kohli. With the BJP’s active student wing, several student organisations in the country have extended support to it.

The party’s press release said India Banao! has been founded by three accomplished Indian professionals: Sanjeev Sanyal, economist and author, Jayant Sinha, investor and columnist, and Sheetal Talwar, film producer.

The first of the programs is an interaction with over 600 representatives of the student and youth community at FICCI auditorium here on Monday evening. Advani will inaugurate the programme with the launch of the India Banao! website, www.indiabanao.org . This will be followed by a policy speech addressed to young people on youth related issues. Advani will then engage in a Question & Answer session with students from IIT Delhi, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, Amity University and other prestigious institutions.

With an eye on India’s demographic profile as a young country, the BJP intends to tap into the aspirations of youth seeking a better tomorrow. Reaching out
to young Indians, especially first-time voters, listening to their views on various issues, and responding to their aspirations is an important component of the BJP’s election strategy for the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

The India Banao! initiative intends to provide a channel for young people to engage with India’s political leaders on youth-related issues. It lists three primary goals: provide opportunities for young people to participate in public life; engage India’s political leaders to address the key issues facing young people today; and raise general awareness on youth-related issues such as higher education reform, employment generation, and safer cities.

The initiative supplements the BJP youth wing’s “yuva jodo” plan to reach down to the booth level to project Advani and recruit at least two youth per booth.
A segment the party would specially focus on is that of first time voters in the 18 to 25 age bracket, the “pratham matdata”, estimated to be around 11 crore.