The term bogus membership was quite familiar in those days when political bosses allowed a modicum of internal democracy. Once during the Janata rule, Raj Narain had produced wads of membership lists just copied from telephone directory and voters list by his rivals.
But why are the BJP’s local leaders indulging in deceptive practices when under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi there is no question of contesting and winning polls on the basis of the membership rolls?
Under the current practice – not as per the BJP’s constitution – district observers in consultation with local bosses fix the committees and every one accept it as ‘election’.
BJP leaders cite two reasons for this. First, the incentives. Every leader must enroll at least 50 members to become an active member, a provision BJP had borrowed from the good old Congress constitution. On October 16, Modi, while formally enrolling himself an active member, had said: such active members “will get many opportunities to work for the party in times to come.” That assurance was a highly alluring lure for the aspiring BJP leaders and deal seekers.
Second, the Vishwaguru effect. Delhi bosses pressing the state and local leaders to achieve higher targets so that India could surpass China in membership enrollment. Chinese communist party has 10 lakh members with a more rigorous eligibility norms than BJP.
However, there is much confusion about the BJP’s membership tally. It has not officially released any final figures. Its official website mentioned that the party membership had crossed “more than 11 crore members” nine years back in 2015-16 . Now leaders have stated that the party had reached “a milestone” on this October 21 by enrolling 10 crore members. It would soon reach 11 crores.
If the party had reached 10 crores 9 years back, how can it be a “milestone”? J.P, Nadda had added to the confusion by stating way back in August 2019 that the “BJP had already reached as high as ‘nearly 18 crores”.
The BJP holds organisational elections every six years. Modi (who else?) launched this year’s membership campaign on September 2. That day, as many as 47 lakh persons were registered as primary members. Six weeks later, at another function, Modi became the first active member of the BJP.
Thus, the opportunity and motivation are the real reasons for the mad rush for membership enrollment. Party leaders right from party president Nadda have been sending this message to the workers in a more explicit manner: the number of members enrolled by the karyakartas at all levels will be a major factor in future assignments.
This is really a tempting lure for all those seeking higher positions in party, inclusion in government bodies, membership in bodies such as consultative committees and for favours like contracts and allocations. Every aspiring BJP leader and friendly businessmen wanted to be rated high. Hence the gold rush to score higher grades.
In Modi’s BJP, this is the crucial motivational factor that keeps the party together. A chat between two Gujarat ministers at a meeting of the ‘Sadasyata Abhiyan-2024’ that has gone viral, vividly illustrates this growing client-patron relationship.
It shows how effectively the fear of punishment and reward for support works even among the middle-level leaders. In the conversation, the ministers referred to the PM seeking performance report of Gujarat ministers and their fears about their own fate if they did not excel others in membership enrollment.
‘Join part of the BJP family through NaMo App,’ tells an alluring BJP advertisement.
Join the BJP family through the NaMo App and be a part of the BJP membership drive – it’s more than just a ritual! #BJPSadasyata2024 pic.twitter.com/AG26qEGbHC
— BJP (@BJP4India) September 20, 2024
Similar advertisements say: “To become part of the world’s biggest party, all that you have to do is to give a missed call to ‘88 00 00 20 24’. After waiting a few minutes and a few clicking you become a BJP member. It is as simple as that. Moreover, every procedure is digitised.
Not satisfied with this, party president Nadda and organisational secretary B.L.Santosh have been persistently pushing the state leaders to achieve the target. They rushed to the crisis areas and made on the spot checks. Despite such proddings, targets fell short in many states.
In his home state Gujarat, Modi himself expressed concern about the slow enrollment and sought a report. And you must see the panic among the state leaders. Immediately, senior leaders met at Kamalam, BJP’s regional office in Gandhinagar. It was decided that the CM, his ministers, MLAs and MPs will visit different districts for the mop up on an emergency basis. To avoid factionism, it was decided to make it ‘joint’ visits by different groups. Such happened in almost every state.
As pressure grew to show results, manipulations began. In this digital era, Raj Narayan’s 1970’s wads of copied names is passé. Instead, the leaders handled the work with the help of smart operators and various shades of outsourcing agents.
Dial 91 78 80 29 81 99 09. You get the ready services of an agency that will deliver any number of new BJP members with all details listed in the proforma. Of course, for a hefty price which the leaders of a ruling party can afford to pay. This is what was revealed by Ajay Vishnoi, former minister and sitting Madhya Pradesh BJP MLA. According to Vishnoi, the caller offered his services to help him get any number of BJP members.
While BJP refuted this, many others, including some Congress leaders like Umang Singhar said they too received similar calls. ‘Chain marketing’ route is another favourite idea. Plans are afoot to enroll three crore BJP members through this route. But Modi’s own Gujarat is also ahead in creative application of coercion and duping in membership enrollment.
There have been reports of school students being enrolled as BJP members. Parents’ mobile numbers were used to enrol students in M.R. Gardi Vidyalaya in Gujarat’s Surendranagar. Another school is under scrutiny for forcing its class 4 students to become BJP members.
Even some known Mehsana Congress leaders have been fraudulently made BJP members. However, so far the most shocking case related to the police force. Reports also suggested that about 70,000 policemen had already been enrolled as BJP members. This report has not been so far officially denied.
“Get Rs. 500 for 100 BJP members,” Bhavnagar municipal corporation standing committee’s former chairman Yuvrj Singh Gohil made a public offer though a video that went viral. We do not know how many deal he struck. But no action against such violations are known to have been taken.
Let’s look at some other similar cases. Over 350 eye surgery patients in Ranchhod Das Hospital in Rajokt were woken up and enrolled as BJP members without their consent. A video depicting the incident is in circulation.
A patient seeking an injection at a Visnagar hospital was allegedly tricked into signing BJP’s membership enrollment form after taking down his mobile number. The family has filed a formal complaint. Inquiries revealed the hospital staff has been routinely collecting OTPs from patients to enroll them as BJP members without their consent.
Jagmal Pithiya, a farmer in Junagar who went to the shop to buy his ration also fell victim to the BJP’s enrollment drive. His relatives have filed a complaint.
Such frauds are not confined to Gujarat. Every occasion where crowds assemble are being used by the enrollment agents. Durga puja, Ram Leela or temple festivals, they quietly collect the signatures and OTPs from unsuspecting victims with or without consent.
In Madhya Pradesh, even the RSS-affiliated Akhilesh Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had objected to the way the BJP was trying to enroll the students as its members. At the government Holman Science College, ABVP students pushed back BJP workers saying educational institutions be kept free from political interference.
The BJP in MP had by October third week mopped up 1.50 crore members. But rivals dispute this claim. The Congress has come out with instances of large-scale data manipulation. Alleging ‘fake’ membership, leader of opposition Umang Singhar said many known Congress leaders were made BJP members. “We have proof of how BJP is falsely inflating its membership count.”
By early October, there have been big shortfalls in UP’s enrollment. Perturbed over the slack response, central leaders rushed to the state and set specific targets for different leaders. Accordingly, highest burden goes to Yogi Adityanath and his two deputies with 50,000 each.
Target set for the MPs and Mayors in UP was 20,000 each, district panchayats presidents 15,000, MLAs and MLCs 10,000 and block pramukhs 5,000.
The BJP has also claimed great enthusiasm among the Muslim community to enroll as its members. It has tripled from 2014.
As part of the BJP’s sadasyata abhiyan, the party’s minority cell has drawn up an ambitious plan. It will “connect” its newly recruited 26,000 “Modi Mitras” or influencers with the target groups. The Minority morcha has also revealed an ‘audio bridge’ campaign as part of the programme. General secretaries like B.L. Santhosh are in charge of the minority project. A Sufi samvad is also being organised.
How many of us know that the BJP is the one political party that issues ‘party card’ to its members. The communist parties had discontinued the practice way back in early 1960 before they split. They had rigid rules – six months as candidate member, etc. – to become a card holder and didn’t have to rely on “chain marketing” or deceit.
P Raman is a veteran journalist.
