If the Congress is pinning hopes on the relatively-young Rahul Gandhi, 40, to attract youth, the BJP is expecting the experienced LK Advani, 82, to motivate the younger generation.
Party draws up mega plan to connect the experienced Advani to voters aged 18 to 25
NEW DELHI: If the Congress is pinning hopes on the relatively-young Rahul Gandhi, 40, to attract youth, the BJP is expecting the experienced LK Advani, 82, to motivate the younger generation.
“India has a history of youth looking up to experience. Youngsters were the biggest followers of Gandhiji, Jai Prakash Narain and Atalji,” Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Amit Thaker, in-charge of connecting Advani to youth, says.
“Yuva jodo” is an aggressive project. “We plan to concentrate on the around 3,000 assembly constituencies that were at least once held by the BJP. The target is to recruit 1,500 to 3,000 youth per constituency, at least two per booth,” Thaker says.
The membership drive would culminate into a ‘Yuva Kranti Rally’ in the capital on August 9. At the centre of the rally’s theme are youth-related issues such as employment and education, apart from issues such as price-rise that affect everybody.
A segment of the party would especially focus on the around 11 crore first-time voters, aged 18 to 25. The BJYM would organise swagat samarohs (welcome ceremonies) for these voters, to begin with, in 10 big cities of the country from August to October.
Under its ‘My dream for Young India’ campaign, Advani would address youth meets in 25 cities, including Pune and Mumbai. The participants would be “scientifically drawn” from all walks of life on the basis of their replies to a questionnaire seeking to test their “political quotient”. With Advani on stage would be about 1,500 youth discussing various issues.
“The idea is to give an opportunity to the youth to have a one-on-one with Advani ahead of the Lok Sabha polls,” Thaker says.
“Youth prefer a strong and honest leader who is a visionary and Advani is the only leader today who has these attributes,” he says.
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net
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