BJP set to form committee to plan harmony march

The BJP is set to form a committee to plan the Sneh Yatra (harmony march) as suggested by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the BJP's national executive meeting in Hyderabad last week.

The PM had suggested that party leaders go and meet people who are in the lower strata of society, regardless of community, and try to address their problems, according to people aware of the matter. He had said in his speech that this would be a way to establish direct and long-term connection with the people.

"We run several reach-out programmes during and around elections. The PM said that a reach-out should not only happen during elections and for people's votes. It should also take place without any immediate target and to establish a long-term relation with the downtrodden people of every community," a BJP leader told ET on condition of anonymity.


Sneh Yatra will be undertaken by party leaders at all levels and a detailed programme will be worked out in the coming days. The focus of the yatra will also be to create heroes among the common people, empower them and make them feel special. "Say, if a child has topped in the class and we come to know while interacting with them, we will immediately recognise and honour the child, giving out a message that they are special and we are there to make them feel special," said the BJP leader.

The party feels that by recognising the people, it will establish a long-term connection and also secure their votes.

Recognising talent or celebrating local heroes has been going on for quite some time in the BJP and it helped the party in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly election. The government had launched a scheme of building roads to the houses of 10 toppers of class 10 and 12. This was a way of honouring their achievement. Similarly, it built roads in the name of martyrs from the state in their villages.

Sneh Yatra will have a larger ambition encompassing all this with some new initiatives, said party functionaries.