UP BJP goes back to Vajpayee era

Lucknow: The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, unable to sustain the euphoria it generated with the Modi government, is making a comeback to the Atal Behari Vajpayee era.

After giving the veteran leader a missing in its publicity material and posters for almost three years, the BJP in UP has decided to celebrate the birthday of former Prime Minister Vajpayee in a big way.

The last time that Mr Vajpayee’s birthday was celebrated by the party was in 2014 when the former prime minister turned 90.

Mr Vajpayee’s birthday on December 25 this year will be celebrated in all 1.4 lakh booths as “Sushasan Diwas”. The party has also decided to feature the former Prime Minister on all posters too. According to party spokesman Harish Chandra Srivastava, programmes will be held at every booth level in which the people will be told how the Modi and Yogi governments are carrying forward the work started by Mr Vajpayee and that it was necessary for the BJP to remain in power in order to fulfil the dreams of Mr Vajpayee.

UP BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that a “havan” for the well being of Mr Vajpayee will be held at the booth level.

“For years we have been celebrating Mr Vajpayee’s birthday but now that the BJP is in power in UP after a gap of 14 years, the celebrations will naturally be on a larger scale. The occasion will be used to interact with the people, inform them of our policies and programmes and also take feedback from them,” he said.

It is noteworthy that in recent years, the UP BJP had started conveniently sidelining Mr Vajpayee. The leader, who was once the biggest vote catching leader of the party, was not seen in posters and publicity material.