BJP to hold virtual rallies to mark first anniversary of Modi govt 2.0

One zone, two rules

In Raipur, Chhattisgarh’s capital, two positive cases of Covid-19 came to light in the past one week. While one is in Saddu, located on the outskirts of the city, the other is in the posh Devendra Nagar locality. Both the areas have been notified as containment zones, but there ends the similarity. In Saddu, the containment zone covers a radius of one kilometre from the affected person’s house. But no such norm is being followed in Devendra Nagar, where two legislators of the ruling Congress reside. In fact, the residence of one of the Congress legislators is just a few yards from the Covid-affected person’s house. While there is criticism in hushed voices about the differing treatment, many are praying the infection doesn’t spread as a result.

Technology-driven politics

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will hold one virtual rally per district to commemorate the completion of one year of the Narendra Modi government’s current tenure on Saturday. According to party General Secretary Bhupender Yadav, the BJP will reach out to around 100 million families through a letter from the Prime Minister, which will detail policy decisions of the government to make the country self-reliant and the precautions that need to be taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The letter will be distributed by two party workers in each booth area to ensure social distancing. BJP president J P Nadda will address party workers via Facebook Live. Yadav said the Assembly polls in Bihar and bypolls in Madhya Pradesh could see election campaigning becoming more technology-driven. “Today we see how WhatsApp and Facebook are used. We will use a new technique in the elections,” Yadav said.

Change in tune

Until last week, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) was spewing fire and brimstone against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments at the Centre and in some states. It called out the Centre’s decision to privatise public-sector undertakings in non-strategic sectors as being against national interest, and opposed labour law changes by the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. On Thursday, the BMS, which is the trade union arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, appeared to change its tune. In a statement, it said it “welcomes” the “trend of correcting mistakes” by the Centre. The BMS lauded the Prime Minister’s speech announcing a Rs 20-trillion economic package for giving “thrust to labour, farmers and small scale industries”. It said in this, Narendra Modi “deviated” from his predecessor Manmohan Singh’s “economic packages, which were benefiting big business houses and corporates”.