With the State BJP’s much-hyped Parivartan Yatra being slated to start on Sunday in Dehradun, meant to mobilise the public opinion against the Harish Rawat Government, the saffron top brass in the State is a really worried lot, wondering whether the turnout would be much impressive, given the fact that the people are lining up at the banks to exchange or deposit the now-defunct high value currencies. “We are indeed worried. If the turnout proves less impressive than we expect then the Congress would dub it as the manifestation of the anger the people are seething with because of the demonetisation move. We would be at the receiving end of the barbs from the Party against which the yatra is focused. Another difficulty we are facing is that Monday being a bank holiday, the people in large number are expected to throng the banks and post offices to deposit or withdraw the now-invalid money on Sunday,” said a State party insider.
Things look ominous indeed a day before the yatra is to be flagged off by the Party’s national president Amit Shah. The participation of the grass root level workers was much less that what the state party leaders expected in the programmes organised on Saturday as a prelude to the yatra.
“The leaders were present in good strength, though the presence of the flag bearers of the party at the grass root levels was conspicuously small,” said a State BJP leader. Observers say that it reflects the public mood of the State. “They are either busy swarming the banks to exchange or withdraw notes or they are unenthusiastic to participate with the possibility that they would face the ire of the people fighting hard with the currency chaos,” said an observer.
left nervous with the inscrutability of the public mood a day before the yatra starts, the state top guns of the saffron camp are pressing the leaders, known as adepts in gathering crowds, to exert themselves fully on the task to spare the party the embarrassment on count of low turnout during the yatra rallies.
“If the turnout is small the Central leaders would upbraid us hard for our supposed failure in herding people together. We are deeply worried,” said another BJP leader from the State.
There is another woe staring the State BJP leaders in the face. The general trend is that the parties gather crowds while giving the labourers the amount equal to their daily wages in lieu of their participation. “Now, our predicament is that those sections of the people who would swell the crowd while donning the party caps are demanding money in the smaller bills from `10 to `100. They are refusing to take the higher value currencies, now out of circulation. It is very difficult for us to arrange smaller bills in such a large amount, given the acute shortage of them in the banks and in the markets. We are trying our best, but it is doubtful whether we would succeed,” said a senior State BJP leader, unwilling to be named.