Denied introduction in parliament by opposition, BJP plans Jan Ashirwad Yatra for newly-inducted union ministers

By Pragya Kaushika
New Delhi [India], July 27 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not have been able to introduce the newly inducted members of his council of ministers in parliament due to uproar created by the opposition but Bharatiya Janata Party is planning to introduce them to the people they represent.
The party, under the leadership of its chief JP Nadda, is planning to have 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' for the newly-inducted union ministers.
Sources said the idea is to introduce the ministers, who come from various backgrounds and include members of weaker sections, to people of the country and specifically to their constituents.
The planning, though in the initial stages, is to reflect the spread of the expanded ministry in terms of representation of Dalits, OBCs, and women. The average age of ministers has also come down.
A senior party leader said that balance in terms of caste and other factors has been kept across states.
"Take Maharashtra or for that matter Karnataka. Caste, the regional balance has been struck. Similar is the case with Uttar Pradesh," he said.
"Of the four new ministers in Maharashtra, only Narayan Rane belongs to the upper caste. Similarly, the ministry has maximum women ministers for any government at the Centre," he added.
The party has given the task concerning the yatra to some national office bearers including general secretary Tarun Chugh, secretaries Sunil Deodhar and Arvind Menon and Vinod Sonkar and national vice president M Chuba Ao.
The Prime Minister had carried out a reshuffle and expansion of his ministry earlier this month.
In his remarks in Parliament, the Prime Minister targeted the opposition for creating a ruckus when the new ministers were sought to be introduced on the first day of the monsoon session.
"Today is an occasion when the children of farmers are being introduced, some people are in pain. What is this anti-women mindset because of which people are not ready to listen to names of women ministers in the House...What's this attitude towards Adivasis because of which people are not liking the introduction of Aadivasi ministers. Many ministers of the Dalit community are to be introduced, but they are obstructing it," PM Modi said in the upper House.
He said this kind of mindset is being witnessed the first time in the Parliament and urged the Chairman to "consider the new minister introduced to the House."
The expanded council of ministers has 12 ministers belonging to the Scheduled Castes, who are from eight states -- Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. Two of the ministers are in the cabinet.
Twenty-seven ministers belong to Other Backward Classes, five of them are in the cabinet.
Eight ministers belong to the Scheduled Tribes and hail from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Odisha. Three of them are cabinet ministers.