BJP will release its poll manifesto early next month

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in the process of compiling suggestions from the people as part of its exercise to draft the manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, is likely to release it in the first week of April. The voting for the first phase will be held on 11 April. According to a party source, the party manifesto committee has received several suggestions, including that for implementing minimum basic income. “All the inputs provided by the sub-committees have been submitted to the chairperson of the manifesto committee, Rajnath Singh,” he said.

The party has democratised the process of compiling the manifesto by crowd sourcing suggestions. The party aims to reach out to more than 10 crore people during the process. A team of 20 members, set up in all the states, will review suggestions and forward them to the manifesto committee, which has been divided into 12 sub-committees to cover subjects like inclusive growth, skill development, education, culture and infrastructure. These sub-committees are headed by senior leaders Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Smriti Irani, among others.

Manifesto committee chief Rajnath Singh and party president Amit Shah launched the “Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat” campaign last month, a toll free number and flagged off 300 trucks, which are visiting 4,000 Assembly constituencies and placing 7,500 suggestion boxes.

The source said suggestions from different parts of the country, either through suggestion boxes or emails or public meeting consultations, will be in by the end of March, after which the manifesto committee will take a call on which issues should be incorporated in the manifesto or the “Sankalp Patra”.

“Besides the suggestion for implementing the minimum basic income, there are suggestions for improving the economy for generating employment, farmers’ welfare and national security. Other issues which may feature in the manifesto prominently include ‘Make in India’ in the defence sector, tackling terrorism, strengthening the armed forces and rationalisation of income and corporate tax,” he added. As part of the “Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat” campaign, voters can express their “Mann Ki Baat” through a missed call on a dedicated phone line (6357171717), website “bharatkemannkibaat.com”, BJP’s Twitter handle and the NaMo application.