With the possibility of targeting a huge vote bank among workers in the unorganised sector, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning to launch a ‘Bharatiya Janata Asanghatith Kamgarh Union’ that would take up issues of people living on daily wages.
This the first such union proposed by it to take up issues of auto drivers, taxi drivers, domestic helps, daily wage labourers and people involved in other unorgansied sectors. Senior party leaders are expected to meet on September 25 to make an extensive plan on the issues that could be raised and how to mobilise people to become part of this union.
“There are over 240 million people working in the unorganised sector in this country and it is important for us to reach out to them. Nobody is listening to their worries and issues, so the party has decided that we would try to meet them. We are meeting soon with senior leaders to prepare a detailed road map,” said Nitin Gadkari, the national BJP president.
Speaking to party workers, Gadkari asked them to start meeting people involved in the unorganised sector in their states and districts and ascertain their daily problems. “The BJP can benefit and win if we work for the poor. It is important to organise these people under one umbrella and then raise their problems to the government,” he said.
He said the ruling Congress Party only talks of uplifting the poor. “Most of the people in the unorganised sector are from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minorities. The Congress Party only talks about their benefits but has so far only used them for its vote bank politics,” Gadkari said.
He also said he’d asked leaders in the Delhi BJP to meet workers in the unorganised sector to understand their problems. “There are around 34 per cent people in the unorganised sector in Delhi alone and we must meet them,” said Gadkari.