Goal '24: This Rakshabandhan, BJP Women Leaders to Tie Rakhis to BSF Men, Uber Drivers & Zomato Boys

When elections are less than nine months away, mass connect is the only mantra for political outfits and the Bharatiya Janata Party is no different.

Using the Rakshabandhan festival in August, the BJP plans to embark on a five-day nationwide mass outreach event where its women leaders will tie rakhis. Last year, BJP chose the armed forces for the purpose and this time, it has broadened the spectrum while naming it ‘Sneh Yatra’.

News18 has learnt that the BJP is focusing on paramilitary personnel like ITBP, BSF, or SSB. Not just that, they also want to reach out to Zomato and Swiggy delivery boys in urban clusters. Rakhis will also be tied on the wrists of drivers, particularly of cab aggregators like Ola or Uber.

“We also want to reach out to the daily wage labourers, contractual labourers, and street vendors during this outreach. We have deliberately included doctors in the list, given their enormous contribution during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dushyant Gautam, ‘prabhari’ of BJP’s women’s wing, told News18.

Sources told News18 that during the five-day drive, women leaders will felicitate the men with a ‘teeka’ on their forehead, followed by tying a rakhi on their wrists. The leaders will also be carrying sweets which they will offer to them. “This is done with an intent of seva. That’s is why the name,” added Gautam.

This will be a pan-India drive starting on August 28 (two days before Rakshabandhan) and will end on September 1, two days after the festival. It will be conducted not only in metro cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru but down to the ‘mandal’ level.

Though it is still in the planning stage, all top women leaders of the party, including Union ministers, will be deputed at certain places to lead the ‘Sneh Yatra’. “All top women leaders will be at the assembly level to take part in it,” confirmed Gautam.

BJP insiders say they hope to reach at least one crore individuals during those five days. With the Lok Sabha election barely nine months away, the saffron party is about to kick-start an array of public connect events. Already a massive minority outreach is underway through which Pasmanda Muslims are being reached out to. Through the ‘Sneh Yatra’, BJP’s goal is to reach out to the unorganised sector — from Uber drivers to Zomato delivery boys.

“If the bread earner is convinced about BJP, the whole family is convinced. Usually, that is the voting pattern in a lot of Indian households,” said a BJP leader who is privy to the planning of ‘Sneh Yatra’. ​