Congress' Dalit Outreach Strategy for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections

To counter BJP's Mission 2019, the Congress has charted out a strategy to reach out to Dalits and other marginal classes.

The Congress' SC/ST department head K Raju spoke exclusively to India Today on party's "Mission Dalit".

HERE'S WHAT HE SAID:

1. Keeping 2019 in mind, the Congress is closely looking at our 84 reserved constituencies. The Congress is paying special attention to these constituencies.

2. We are trying to identify who are the candidates who have confidence of Dalits as well as non-Dalits and what are the issues in those constituencies that needs to be addressed.

3. Congress' counter to BJP's mission 2019 is the "Constitution of India" given by Baba Sahib Dr BR Ambedkar. He has given the rights to all. Need of the hour is that the Dalits across the country protect the constitution so that rights guaranteed to them are safeguarded.

4. Reservation will be one of the main issue. Will tell Dalits that BJP has its own plan to do away with constitution and they have already started undoing the reservation.

5. During Congress' rule in Centre and states, party got many plans, schemes, program and legislations that provided access to education, health services, employment and land to Dalits. Will make Dalits realise that too. 6. Dr Ambedkar's legacy belongs to Congress. Congress has lived Baba Sahib's ideology. Baba Sahib's vision is Congress' mission. We will deliver this message to Dalits across the country.

7. Issue on which Congress will corner BJP will include fund allocation too. In the current three and and half years of BJP rule, Centre's fund allocation has come down. Present government has dropped the important SC policies. We will fight against that.

8. In previous UPA government, we had introduced constitutional safeguard for Dalit employee promotions. But that too didn't happen despite the BJP trying to be Messiah of Dalits.

9. The Congress' campaign would adopt various methods like seminars, conferences, nukkar sabhas and has planned household visits by party workers to convey the messages.

10. The strategy would include spreading the message that all issues concerning Dalits are not being given due importance by the BJP. "The issues will be raised during Congress' Dalit campaign which include reaching out to every household to make them realise the truth."
Source: IndiaToday

BJP on Mission Mode for 2019, Sets New Targets for Next General Elections

On the concluding day of the two-day National Executive meet, the BJP political resolution indicated that it would focus on adding new socio-groups into its fold even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to attract some in the Muslim community, especially women and the poor.

Keeping its thrust on development agenda, the BJP has embarked on a mission to retain power in 2019, fine-tuning its strategy to woo the poor and a section of Muslims to expand its base.

On the concluding day of the two-day National Executive meet, the BJP political resolution indicated that it would focus on adding new socio-groups into its fold even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to attract some in the Muslim community, especially women and the poor.

Dubbing Triple Talaq a "bad social practice", Modi said such things can be ended by social awakening but stressed that the Bharatiya Janata Party didn't want a conflict on this issue.

Modi's observation came at his concluding remarks.

"As far as social justice is concerned, our Muslim sisters should also get justice. There should not be injustice to them. No one should be exploited," Union Minister Nitin Gadkari quoted Modi as saying.

Modi added: "We should not allow conflict in the society. We don't want any conflict in Muslim society over the issue. We need to end such bad practices by awakening the society."

Earlier, making an intervention during the discussion over the resolution passed on a new OBC Commission, Modi said even Muslims have backwards and marginalised and the government must address their concerns.

BJP sources said Modi asked the party leaders and workers to hold district-level meetings over the issues of backward Muslims and women.

Modi also expressed his desire to rid India of social and economic inequities.

Accusing the opposition of concocting issues, Modi said: "It seems the opposition manufactures these issues in some factories. During the Delhi election, Church attacks was highlighted and during the Bihar polls 'Award Wapsi' was the issue. And right now it is EVM."

The Prime Minister told party workers to stick to "positive approach".

Earlier, two resolutions were passed by the National Executive focusing on the poor and backward communities in the society.

Coming down heavily on the Congress and other opposition parties for blocking in the Rajya Sabha a bill to grant constitutional status to the OBC Commission, the BJP accused them of depriving the poor of their benefits.

Human Resource and Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said: "These parties have always suppressed the interests of the backward classes and only given them false hopes."

He said the manner in which the bill was opposed exposed their attitude towards backward classes.

The resolution was moved by BJP's OBC MP Hukumdev Narayan Yadav and seconded by Chief Ministers like Raghubar Das of Jharkhand, Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The BJP's focus on OBCs and Modi's remarks on the backwardness of Muslim society and Triple Talaq is seen as the party's effort to woo these social groups ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP also has to face assembly elections in Gujarat, Himachal, Karnataka and Odisha. BJP President Amit Shah has begun micro management for these contests.

Where the BJP is not a major player, it is targeting new social groups.

Shah has asked party workers to go the extra mile to strengthen the party in 120 Lok Sabha constituencies where it is weak. Noting that Modi had worked hard and translated his words into action, the political resolution said: "The BJP calls upon the people of our country to take a pledge to form a government under the leadership of Narendra Modi in 2019 in order to have the continuity of development and welfare policies for all."
Source: MoneyControl.com

NDA & Opposition Begin to Gear Up for 2019 General Elections

The stakes are high and this is showing up in the recent moves of our principal political parties on both sides of the divide. The ruling NDA, led by the BJP and dominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who appears to be impregnable after his famous victory in Uttar Pradesh, has already begun taking the first steps toward consolidating the incumbent alliance, not taking anything for granted and leaving nothing to last-minute firefighting.

Its scattered opponents too appear at last to have understood that unity moves do not fructify easily, and have set the process in motion long before the next Lok Sabha election in 2019.

The first formal step in this direction was taken on Wednesday, as the Budget Session of Parliament drew to a close, when a delegation of 13 parties, with the Congress being the largest in Parliament and led by party president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, walked to Rashtrapati Bhavan to give a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee to highlight the alleged authoritarian conduct of the government, including the passing of measures as “money bills” in Parliament to bypass scrutiny by the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in a minority.

The meeting of the NDA the previous day, attended by the PM, would have been a shot in the arm for the ruling alliance. Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief, not only attended the meeting but called Mr Modi “elder brother”. In the past three years, the BJP’s oldest ally has been harrying the saffron party at every turn, but this was forgotten at the meeting. For the BJP and the NDA, which will be reduced to nothing without the former, this cannot but be a sign of hope.

The fact that the BJP is on a marked winning streak under Mr Modi’s leadership has doubtless been a factor in helping slippery parts unify within the NDA. Its opponents have had no luck on that count and are still trying to forget mutual rivalries and present a common face to the BJP, although this may take some doing.

Thus, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress was represented at Rashtrapati Bhavan along with its bête noire, the CPI(M) and the other Left parties. From Uttar Pradesh, there was the SP and BSP, parties with a long history of mutual hostility.

The victory of the “mahagathbandhan” in Bihar last year had led some to believe that the Congress, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) would strive together to act in parliamentary politics, but this expectation turned out to be exaggerated.

It may, therefore, be too early to think that the Opposition parties that met the President will sort out their ambitions and mutual rivalries right away. Politics is a complicated process.
Source: AsianAge.com

NDA to Fight 2019 Lok Sabha Polls under PM Modi’s Leadership

"Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan made the proposal for fighting Lok Sabha election under Modi and it was accepted unanimously," the BJP leader added.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Monday passed a resolution to fight 2019 Lok Sabha elections under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said.

“To continue with the development and poor welfare programs, NDA urges the citizens of the country to be determined to give huge majority to NDA under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019,” the resolution said.

Earlier, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, who attended the meeting at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra at Chanakyapuri in New Delhi’s diplomatic enclave said, “The NDA leaders decided to work together to succeed in 2019 Lok Sabha elections under Modi’s leadership.”

“Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan made the proposal for fighting Lok Sabha election under Modi and it was accepted unanimously,” the BJP leader added.

The NDA meeting was attended by 33 parties including Shiv Sena and Akali Dal but there was no discussion on the upcoming presidential or vice presidential elections.

Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thakrey and Akali Dal’s Prakash Singh Badal represented their parties.

Addressing the media, Financial Minister Arun Jaitley said the NDA meeting endorsed the policies of the government specially its “pro-poor policy”.

“Despite the bad shape of economy, the government did a good job and headed towards development. There was not a single corruption charge against the government in its last three years’ reign,” he said.

The minister also said that new allies have joined NDA and this is the symbol of this government’s popularity.

Asked if there was any discussion about the presidential elections, the minister categorically denied it, saying “No”.

Speaking on relationship with Shiv Sena, Jaitley said, “Shiv Sena is the oldest BJP ally. At times some issues come when they don’t agree but Uddhavji today attended the meeting and he was positive.

” The NDA also hailed Modi for BJP’s stunning victory in recent assembly polls.

“The BJP’s victory in recent assembly polls is a mandate on pro poor policies and public welfare schemes of NDA government. The results established Modi as most popular Prime Minister of the country after independence,” the statement said.

TDP Chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said that India needs a stable government for sustainable development.

“India is only economy which can achieve double digit growth. Even China can’t. This is possible only under Modi’s leadership. Sustainability will come with stable government,” he said.
Source: IndianExpress