Women’s wing BJP’s spearhead in Gujarat

In a crucial state poll where the Opposition is trying to cobbled up a caste combination, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat is making strides to reach out to the caste-neutral constituency of women through innovative ways such as ‘Kamal Mehndi’ and ‘Hitaishi Sammelans’.

The party’s women’s wing or Mahila Morcha is the vanguard of the campaigns. “We are identifying women who are the beneficiaries of the numerous schemes for women’s welfare such as e-Mamata and Ujjwala launched by both the Centre as well as the state BJP government and are reaching out to them across all state Assembly constituencies at local gatherings, called ‘Hitaishi Sammelans’ (well-wishers’ meet). Every such sammelan is attracting over 3,000 women even in seats where we had lost the last time,” BJP Mahila Morcha chief Vijaya Rahatkar told DNA.

The objective of such gatherings is to enlist the support, and therefore votes, of the women who have received assistance under Central and state schemes as also to advertise the pro-women pro-poor face of the party. “It is always easy and more effective to associate people with a political party when the party is in power or when the people are legatees of the welfare programmes of …read more