The BJP may be leaving behind the Communist Party of China in the membership race, but in some of its own backyards the party was in a last minute overdrive to achieve targets.
By Sunday evening, the BJP had recorded a primary membership nearing 8.8 crore, heading to triple its earlier strength. The CPC, so far the largest political party in the world, had a membership of 8.67 crore, as of 2014.
With just three days left for the BJP’s membership drive to end, several BJP-ruled states have sought extension of the deadline hoping to rope in more members. These include Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Chhattisgarh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam. However, party sources said these states had run short of time for the membership drive because of assembly or local body elections and were confident that they could raise the numbers if they get more time.
The party has set an overall target of 10 crore membership, which had stood at 3.25crore. Party sources exuded confidence of achieving this target by March 31.
Interestingly, it is the membership figures in states where the BJP is not an influential political force, where it has gone up more than four times, that have been encouraging for the party.
A party leader said this was seen as an indication of the people’s disillusionment with political parties in these states. Among these, Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are headed for elections next year. Party president Amit Shah, who has himself kept a close eye on the membership campaign, has travelled across the country visiting almost every state since the drive began in November last year. He had paid particular interest in states where the BJP needed to make inroads.
In Uttar Pradesh, on which the party has set its eyes, has recorded a membership of 1.47 crore nearly touching its target of 1.5 crore. Shah is now understood to have raised the target by another 50 lakh
in case the time is extended for the membership drive. However, there is acknowledgment in the party that with induction as a primary member being just a phone call away, there would be some non-serious recruits. After verification, these members would be removed, sources said. A party leader said retaining the new entrants would also pose a challenge and that they would have to be kept involved in party activities to ensure that the membership figure translated into votes for the party.
“In West Bengal, the membership figure has gone up from 1.25 to 37 lakh. This in itself is a big achievement. Our endeavour will be to ensure that these translate into votes,” said Siddharth Nath Singh, BJP national secretary in-charge of West Bengal.
Party sources said if states have not yet reached membership targets, it was because the targets set were high. Besides, in some messages from a mobile phone, there were names of more than one person which would have to be counted manually, they said. The primary members would not be eligible for posts in the party, for which one would have to qualify to be an active member. Only those who inducted 100 people as members and worked for the party for seven days would become active members.
