Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally in Jaipur on 25 September. He will set the agenda for assembly elections, which are to be held in five states including, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. The BJP leaders are hopeful that Prime Minister Modi’s rally will turn the tide in its favour.
The leaders believe that the BJP will benefit from the women’s reservation bill which was passed recently in Parliament. They say that women are quite enthusiastic and happy after the passage of the bill providing them 33 per cent reservation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Modi will guide the party workers as to how they have to explain the benefits of this bill to the women voters. He has already wooed Muslim women after his government abolished triple talaq. The first test of the popularity of the women’s reservation bill will happen in assembly polls in November. The BJP has assigned the responsibility of the PM Modi’s rally to the Mahila Morcha of the party and they will ensure maximum women participation. The message that women have no separate caste rather they are just one community will be conveyed through this gathering. The party will try to counter Congress’ OBC reservation agenda.
Former CM Vasundhara Raje addressed a group of women at her residence, saying that women have no caste tag. She said that only two castes exist, men and women.
Former State BJP president Satish Poonia claims that it would be the largest rally ever. The large participation of women in the rally will be a message as to who they are supporting. He further said that nobody can misguide women in the name of caste and class.
It is clear now that the main focus of the rally will be the women of Rajasthan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will set the agenda for five state polls to be held in November. The agenda will be focused on women’s reservations, while some will be decided according to local issues of the poll-bound states. Women’s reservations and law and order will be two major issues to be raised by the BJP in Rajasthan. BJP will fight polls on PM Modi’s face. However, the party is also aware that this strategy came a cropper in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. The ‘Hindutva’ agenda has been kept on the backburner now. The saffron party will concentrate on issue-based politics. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s schemes have given Congress an edge over BJP. BJP is also banking on the Modi government’s achievements. Satish Poonia says that the entire scenario will change after the rally of PM Modi. Referring to Priyanka Gandhi’s “ladki hoon, lad sakti hu” (I’m a girl and I can fight) pitch, Poonia says that it was just a “jumla” (an idiom) in view of increasing crimes against women in Rajasthan. He stated, “Congress always preaches, but BJP believes in action…We live in a country where women are worshipped. Given this, PM Modi’s women’s bill is not only aimed at providing reservation to women in Lok Sabha and assemblies but also to uphold this Indian culture.”
