LK Advani has started wooing the aspirations of the urban youth and the middle class. For the poor in the rural and urban areas, he has a new term “small Indians”.
The BJP is also keen to bring its traditional electoral constituency, the urban middle class, back into its foldNEW DELHI: The political rhetoric of Gaon, Garib and Kisan can take a back seat for the moment.
Buoyed by the statistics that around 40% of the country’s population had become urban and this percentage could reach up to 60 by next decade, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani has started wooing the aspirations of the urban youth and the middle class. For the poor in the rural and urban areas, he has a new term “small Indians”.
The urban middle class have been the traditional electoral constituency of the BJP since the Jan Sangh days. The party is keen to bring them back into its fold. While BJP president Rajnath Singh with his perceived son of the soil image goes on with problems of farmers in rural areas, Advani since last week has been consistent on harping “think big, dream big”, an idea that the upwardly mobile middle class loves.
The farmers and those on the margins of rural and urban areas, small Indians, are important in his electoral scheme but the term has become more sophisticated.
“The people are already looking beyond the UPA government. We in the NDA have been preparing for the future in right earnest. People are hungry for change in the way government functions at all levels. The NDA have gained rich experience in governance both at the state and central levels.
Using this experience, and using good ideas and suggestions coming from all quarters, and seeking the support of all sections of our society, we shall present an ambitious and inspiring agenda before the nation,” Advani says.
It comes from the perception that even common people that India can think big, implement projects in record time, and achieve what earlier seemed impossible. He strikes hard at the ideological positioning of the ruling Congress and its UPA partner and the CPI(M)-led Left Front.
“Ours (BJP) is a party whose political and economic philosophy is rooted not in foreign soil but in India’s own genius and in her age-old traditions. We are not slave to any dogma, either of the left or the right variety. We are prepared to learn from the knowledge and experience of other societies, but will always be guided by our own national ideals and principles, and indeed by India’s socio-economic realities,” he said.
To lure the youth and instill a feeling of cultural nationalism, which the BJP so passionately propounds, Advani said the brain drain, a term closely associated with 1970s and 80s, has been now reversed to ‘brain gain’ which refers to the phenomenon of educated and successful Indians abroad returning to our country since India itself is providing very many exciting opportunities in business and professions.
“No nation can become strong with weak self-belief. No nation can attain greatness with small ambitions and tiny achievements. No nation can become rich by keeping the bulk of its human resources poor”, he said.
s_singh@dnaindia.net 
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}