In a bid to woo youngsters in urban centres, the BJP has made a shift from tea to coffee. The discussion forums to engage with first-time voters, ‘Coffee With Youth’, are slated to be held in gardens and cafes. Coffee mugs will reportedly sport PM Modi’s picture.
‘Chai Pe Charcha’ was a mega digital outreach programme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 1,000 tea stalls simultaneously ahead of the 2014 elections.
BJP general secretary for Maharashtra, Vikrant Patil, said the party has scheduled meetings with young voters that will be more personal interactions.
For the coffee sessions, the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha will be organising meetings with 150-200 youth at a time from different segments of society, from entrepreneurs to artists. “A speaker will explain the party’s stand, interact and take questions,” said Patil.
Similar meetings will be held in rural areas as well but coffee will not be served. They will be held under the banner of ‘Namo Chaupal’ (chaupal is a community space in villages).
‘Namo Samvad’
As part of the interactive campaign, the party will also hold a ‘Namo Samvad’ (dialogue) at its Shakti Kendras. Each kendra will target the electorate of five to six polling booths. Each booth represents around 1,000 votes.
“At a convenient place, we shall call these 6,000 voters in an open area for an interaction. We shall be holding these meetings at 21,000 Shakti Kendras across the state, holding seven to eight meetings everyday,” said Patil.
Around 300 speakers have been chosen for this outreach, which includes regional party leaders, district leaders, sitting and ex-MLAs.
BJP’s Mumbai unit president, Ashish Shelar, said that the aim of these programmes was to communicate the party’s vision for a developed Bharat by 2047. “The opposition has no programme and no agenda. They have no vision for a developed India and hence they are unwilling to talk on this issue,” he said.
Kumar Ketkar, ex-RS MP, said BJP has enormous campaigning imagination.
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