BJP to launch month-long Seva Sankalp Abhiyan on PM Modi's birthday, marking 25 years in office

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will roll out a month-long public service campaign, the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, across the country from September 17, the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The party said the drive marks what it describes as 25 years of Mr. Modi's service as Chief Minister and Prime Minister.

Announcing the campaign at a press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Union Health Minister and senior BJP leader J.P. Nadda said the party organises service programmes every year, but this edition would be special because of the 25-year milestone.

The first day will be observed as Seva Diwas, and lamps will be lit that night, he said. Through the month, party workers will take part in cleanliness drives, blood donation camps and medical camps.

Mr. Nadda said every polling booth would hold at least 10 service activities, and workers would upload details of each activity on social media.

A Seva Kalash Yatra, including bike rallies and padayatras, will be taken out to publicise development work carried out by the Union government and the party's resolve for a Viksit Bharat, or developed India, he said.

The campaign will also include conventions of people who have benefited from government schemes, and felicitation of workers at the field level. Under a Seva Sindhu initiative, party workers will help people enrol for welfare schemes they may have missed.

Regional innovation challenges are planned to connect young people and start-ups with innovators. Senior BJP leaders will deliver lectures and hold dialogues on good governance in different parts of the country, Mr. Nadda said.

The campaign will conclude on October 17 with an address by the Prime Minister.

Turning to the economy, Mr. Nadda said that before Mr. Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, India was counted among the “fragile five” economies, and that the country is now competing for the third position among the world's largest economies. The “fragile five” was a term used by analysts in 2013 for emerging economies seen as vulnerable to sudden shifts in foreign investment. Rankings of national economies vary with the measure and the year used; India has featured among the world's five largest economies in recent estimates.

Mr. Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat from October 2001 to May 2014 and has been Prime Minister since May 2014. The BJP has said the Viksit Bharat goal refers to a developed India by 2047, a century after Independence. According to the party, the campaign is meant to carry government schemes and its development agenda to people at the grassroots level through its booth network.