The BJP would remember ‘unsung patriots’ at local levels while celebrating the 70th Independence Day of the country with a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ for a week from August 15. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the NDA MPs to participate in functions in their respective constituencies to commemorate the occasion.
The BJP is to roll out a detailed plan for ‘a grand celebration’ with Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu as its convenor. The consultations with BJP president Amit Shah are underway to firm up specific programmes across the country.
The week-long celebrations of Independence Day was discussed during the BJP parliamentary party meet which was attended by the Prime Minister, senior members of his cabinet and party MPs.
A special programme could be organised in Parliament to mark the occasion before the conclusion of the Monsoon session on August 12.
The Independence Day’s programmes would include ‘Tiranga Yatra’ on two wheelers (not four wheelers) and visiting those ‘Shaheed Sthan’ (Martyr’s memorials) “forgotten” in the local areas, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, who briefed the media on the meeting. MPs will pay their respects to martyrs and freedom fighters and suggest plans to “renew these memorials”.
“Tiranga Yatra from August 15 to 22 would not be on four wheelers but on two wheelers with helmets on,” he said quoting the Prime Minister. The other programmes would be firmed up in next week’s meeting.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the party was in discussion with the Congress on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill. “We will be discussing it with other parties also,” said Kumar, who along with Jaitley is engaged in the dialogues on the issue. Asked by what time a consensus could be reached, the Minister said “by this week”. He refused to give out the progress of the talks. “One cannot measure the growth of a baby on a daily basis,” he quipped.
The meeting flagged “high diplomatic achievements” of the Prime Minister during his foreign tours with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj presenting a detailed account of Modi’s travels between the last session and the current session.
The party leaders gave Modi standing ovations twice over his “successful” foreign tours, including his address to the US Congress and the decision of two countries to accord their highest civilian honours on him.
The PM expressed happiness over the “successful observance” of the ‘Vikas Parv’, when the Government and party office bearers held over 200 events to publicise his Government’s development works in its two years.
During the meeting, Modi sought ways to scale up the quality of debate in Parliament and suggested that there should be a study on it.
Kumar said his Government was ready to discuss all subjects in Parliament “be it Kashmir or price rise”.