Modi launches BJP membership drive, seeks representation for all

PM Modi at the launch

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) membership drive, saying people from all sections of society should feel they have a representative in the party. According to the BJP's constitution, the party renews the membership every two years. The party's new membership drive aims at increasing its strength four times the current number.

Modi said that the BJP should emerge as a "diverse" party reflecting the diversity of the country. "BJP should also come across as a diverse party. People from all strata of society should feel that we have a representative in this vase of flowers," Modi said at a function to launch the party first membership drive post its emphatic win in the 2014 general elections. A toll-free number has been also be launched and people would be asked to give a missed call on it. After that they will get their membership number and other details through SMS.

"The poor and illiterate should also feel that we are a part of this party. The organisation should be expanded in such a manner that it is representative of all and can fulfill the dreams of all," he said.

Modi said that the membership drive should serve as an example globally. The prime minister became the first member of the BJP in this membership drive, which will last till Match 31.

"By giving me this opportunity, today the BJP has honoured me. To be a member of such a party is also a matter of pride," he said.

Modi said the BJP is one of the world's most important organisations and could even be a subject of study.

"The BJP is one of the most important organisations in the world. Yet we have never positioned it like that. To be a member of BJP is to live the disciplined life it demands... every member of BJP is a representative of the people," he added.

Modi said, "It is said politics is dirty. No it is not. If politics was dirty, Mahatma Gandhi would never have ventured into it. In the party (BJP), from bottom to top, there should be correct information flow and from top to bottom, there should be correct guidance."

In states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa and others where the party is strong, the BJP will have to increase its membership four times the current numbers and work further towards cementing its position, party chief Amit Shah had said earlier.

Madhya Pradesh has to raise its membership to two crore this time, as per the target, he said.

In states where the party is not that strong, it has to ensure that the membership drive reaches from cities to towns, village and to booth level, the BJP leader said.

The frontal organisations too have been given the task of registering full-time party members.

Shah claimed the BJP is the only party in the country which follows internal democracy in totality by holding elections every two years.