The Delhi BJP’s efforts to explain the three farm laws to the farmers over the last year, including public meetings across 360 villages, came to naught after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his decision to repeal them on Friday. The party’s State unit has found itself in a tight spot.
To put up a brave face following the development, the party had initially planned a thanksgiving programme after Mr. Modi’s televised address. It was, however, called off within minutes.
A senior party leader played down the cancelled event as an aberration resulting from ‘miscommunication’. Another leader said it was evidence of the fissures within the party’s State unit, coming as it did due to the lack of an ‘effective communication strategy’.
“If you include the ones from the national unit, there are around 56 spokespersons in Delhi. These spokespersons as well as State leaders were put in-charge of the public outreach regarding the laws,” a party source said.
“The PM himself took the blame regarding clarifications related to the laws not being communicated effectively. Will these spokespersons and leaders who presided over explanatory events in over 300 Delhi villages own up?” the source asked.
Beginning in October last year and carried out until recently, the BJP had organised a slew of events, including ‘khaat baithak’ public meetings and village panchayats as part of a two-pronged strategy to clarify the laws to residents of Delhi’s villages and amplify “issues” with the Delhi Government’s treatment of them.
The ostensible strategy, according to the party, was aimed at relaying clarifications regarding the laws to agrarian households in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Same strategy
A senior party leader said the BJP would continue on the same strategic path of cornering the AAP Government in Delhi on its unkept promises made to the city’s farmers.
“The announcement actually gives us an edge against the Delhi Government. We will now corner the Delhi Government on its treatment of the Capital’s farmers by asking why it can’t fulfil its promises to them if the PM can repeal the farm laws in a decision with national ramifications,” a leader said.
“The repeal of the laws is expected to have a positive impact on the BJP’s image in western Uttar Pradesh. which is adjacent to Delhi; a BJP wave in the U.P. elections next year will have a positive impact on municipal seats in Delhi as well,” another leader said.
