BJP to celebrate Sardar Patel's birthday as 'day of good governance'

PM Modi wants to to honour the first Home Minister of India's stint as the mayor of Ahmedabad in 1927

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with the Urban Development Ministry, will celebrate the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbai Patel on October 31 as a day of good governance in urban local bodies.

According to the party leadership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested that on Patel's 140th birth anniversary this year, the party should honour the contribution of India's first home minister as the mayor of Ahmedabad in 1927. October 31 is also the martyrdom day of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

To supplement the National Democratic Alliance government’s ‘smart cities’ project and to make its mayors aware of best practices in the sector, the BJP has planned to hold a seminar of all its mayors and municipal standing committee chairpersons.

The seminar is being organised under the auspices of BJP’s ‘Good Governance’ cell. Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu will be one of the speakers. The cell is one of the 18 such units put in place by party President Amit Shah for educating party leaders on foreign policy issues, urban management, training of workers and policy research.

“We had apprised the PM of our plan. He showed the instinct of a worker to suggest October 31st as a suitable date. The PM said this would be the party’s way of honouring Patel’s contribution as the mayor of Ahmedabad in 1927,” BJP National Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said. The seminar, according to the current plan, is likely to be held in Hyderabad. Elections to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation are scheduled for November. The party hopes that the prime minister will address the seminar.

The seminar will be addressed by experts in the field, including professors from Indian Institutes of Management. It will cover issues like good practices in urban local bodies, delivery mechanism of municipal services, transparency, ‘swachh Bharat’ campaign, ‘smart cities’ project, issues related to hawkers, pedestrian rights, etc.

The 14th Finance Commission has recommended grants to the tune of Rs 2,00,292 crore to panchayats and Rs 87,143 crore to municipalities between 2015 and 2020. Party sources said similar seminars will be organised at the state level.

In 2014, the NDA government had marked Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary as the ‘National Unity Day’, which is set to continue.