Goa BJP Friday has called out to beneficiaries of state and central government schemes to light a lamp outside their verandah on the evening of February 26, the day the party has decided to celebrate Kamal Jyoti Utsav, a pre-poll programme planned in the state.
“People are happy with this government. We are urging them to acknowledge this sentiment with a lamp,” said state Party President Vinay Tendulkar, who called it similar to celebrating Diwali, but a “little earlier”. “This should be seen as deepotsav”, he added.
The party has decided to hold a meeting on February 15 to “plan the distribution of lamps” and are still looking at it as a “self-motivated exercise” where families buy and light the lamps themselves.
“This is for all kind of schemes, like One Rank One Pension (OROP) or schemes like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. In the state, people have benefitted from Mahila Griha Aadhar and the Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana which looks into health coverage. These are big schemes and we are urging them to light a lamp, as a token of appreciation. We are not forcing anyone. Our initial appeal is towards our members associated with the 1,652 booths across Goa and beyond, to everyone who has benefitted from the scheme,” Tendulkar added.
The announcement comes a day before BJP Chief Amit Shah’s visit to the state for a booth meet — where all the karyakartas of the booths across the state are expected to assemble to hear the national leader. Earlier, the party has also had many briefings where the workers have been busy learning all the schemes of the BJP government. In January, during a visual booth interaction with the state booth workers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged members in Goa to pick five schemes each and go around and “educate” people regarding them. “On February 26, our workers will spread across the state and would be talking on these schemes,” added Tendulkar.
Meanwhile, in a first, on February 11, another programme will see the booths being active in real time. “Clusters of booths have been made and 300 such clusters will celebrate a programme where the booths will be made open to public. Everyone can walk in with a cheque of minimum Rs 5 to a maximum of Rs 1,000 and donate it to the party. We are calling it ‘Samarpan divas’. This is open to the well-wishers and karyakartas of BJP throughout the day. The donations will only be accepted in cheques and this is being done as a way to encourage the people to partake in the party’s growth,” Tendulkar added. The “Momentum” he added will be kept alive with various other initiatives and programmes where the party flag will be kept visible across the state.
“On March 2, we have planned a bike rally in 40 assembly constituencies where each booth have called for a bike rally and show of strength. That will also be our way to acknowledge their contribution towards building their party. It is exciting times,” added Tendulkar. “It’s all about showing love to the party.” The party is yet to confirm if Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who returned to Goa from AIIMS, Delhi on Wednesday would be part of any programme.
