Simply Haryana: How outreach programmes keep BJP battle-ready in state
The BJP is invoking the 11th anniversary of the Modi government in power to launch yet another outreach programme called “Sankalp se Siddhi”, in which Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and state BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli in Haryana will travel across the state to highlight the achievements of the government.
In the run-up to “Sankalp se Siddhi”, the Tiranga Yatra across the state provided yet another opportunity to the saffron party to celebrate defence forces’ success against Pakistan in the recent armed conflict and connect with the general public. Besides, several state-level functions to commemorate national and regional religious and social figures provided an additional opportunity to the BJP to consolidate its hold over various religious, social and ethnic groups.
The main objectives of the “Sakalp se Siddhi” included showcasing Modi government’s achievements, including success of Operation Sindoor, Ayushman Bharat, India becoming the fourth largest economy and other achievements before the general public. In fact, youth, digital audience and professionals specially targetted by BJP teams during the ongoing campaign to make people how India is well on its way to becoming a developed nation by 2047 under the BJP rule.
After its surprise and unbelievable hat-trick in the October 2024 Assembly poll in Haryana, when other parties were counting their losses, the BJP surprised everybody by launching a membership drive and organisational elections to keep the party battle-ready. The result: The party won the March 2025 local bodies elections, helping it realise the dream of forming a triple-engine government.
In fact, regular outreach programmes and connect with the people make the ruling party stand out among the traditional parties, keeping it battle-ready in Haryana’s caste-ridden polity. The incremental political benefits of these campaigns cannot be exaggerated, especially when the Assembly poll in the neighbouring Punjab are just over one and a half years away. Party insiders asserted since people of Haryana and Punjab share “roti, beti ka rishta”(close ties), a charged-up cadre would play a crucial role in the BJP’s electoral fortunes in Punjab, where the party is still trying to find its feet after severing ties with the SAD with which it once ran a coalition government.
“The BJP works in the mission mode. The regular outreach programmes keep the party connected to voters and its workers. This makes the BJP better prepared than other parties for any election — be it national or state elections,” Badoli recently said.
Till 2014, the BJP was virtually a non-entity in the caste and region dominated electoral politics of Haryana. However, in view of its smart social engineering, which also involved wooing non-Jat and urban voters, the party formed the government first time under RSS pracharak-turned-politician Manohar Lal Khattar.
After coming to power, it soon realised the importance of outreach programmes and institutionalising them. Soon, every prominent socio-religious programme, aimed at wooing a particular community, was celebrated at a grand scale with a tag of state-level function. And its electoral benefits were immediate and assured.
The massive outreach programmes were a major factor in the BJP’s electoral success of the party over the years as they kept the party’s organisational structure in the pink of heath. “This is in sharp contrast to the main Opposition Congress which has only recently initiated the party revamp process. That is why it is advantage BJP whenever there has been elections in the last decade — be it the parliamentary or state election,” a senior party functionary justifiably claimed.
Haryana Tribune