BJP my first school that shaped my thoughts and character

I and the BJP grew together. I was a young boy six years old when the BJP was established on April 6, 1980, as a political alternative to fulfill the aspirations of people towards clean and development-driven politics serving the overall interest of the country.?

The rest is the history of how the BJP, blessed with committed workers, rose to dominate the national discourse of India to make the country prosperous and powerful. This is just the beginning of a giant leap when India entered into Amrit Kal under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji.???

It is the BJP, its ideology, and its high moral values that nourished me and shaped my character and thoughts. I feel deeply connected with the BJP like a newborn baby connected with a mother with an umbilical cord.?

I can say that I grew up with lotus in my hands, its ideology in my heart, and many memorable slogans on my lips that changed the dynamics of Indian politics.

My father and former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Prem Singh Dhumal, was the first BJP Karyakarta (worker) whom I saw working tirelessly to expand the BJP organization and the ideology of Ekatmak Nanavvad (integral humanism).

My father has been associated with the BJP since its initial days.?There were many other committed workers like him who devoted themselves to the party. I still recollect their faces and their names in some cases.?

They regularly thronged my places discussing party organization and political activities visiting one village to another carrying the BJP flags on their shoulder.?

The kind of courtesy, care, and help they extended to each other led me to believe that the concept of family extends beyond blood relations and four walls. BJP imbibed the concept of family from its mother organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which collectively refers to itself as Sangh Parivar.

As a child, I often wondered who their leader was if all were referring to themselves as Karyakarta. My father would smile and say that in the BJP all were equal, hence all were Karyakarta, and becoming a Karyakarta was a matter of pride.

I don’t remember how and when as a school-going boy I started feeling myself as Karyakarta, informally became a part of it, and espoused the ideology of the RSS and the BJP. But this did not happen in a single day.

I am blessed to have closely watched many stalwarts and statesmen of the BJP including the Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee who left an everlasting impact on me.

As a Karyakarta I found the BJP as the cradle of nationalism where Bharat is the central theme and Bharat Mata is the presiding deity. No other party, except the BJP, has put the nation above the rest. It is the BJP that trusts even its ordinary grassroots workers like me and assigns important responsibility.

It was a surprise for me when the party pushed me into the electoral battle in 2008. I was the face, but it was BJP workers who fought and won the election. My fourth consecutive victory as a BJP parliamentarian and serving as a minister in the present government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modiji is an appreciation for a BJP worker like me.?

Once someone had lightly asked me whether, amid so much of engagements, I get time to engage with Karyakarta? “I will pull down the gate of my house if that separates me from them”, I had said.

In 2010, I was vested with an organizational responsibility and appointed as national president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). It was a crucial time and turning point for India and the BJP as well.

Under the UPA-II rule, India was passing through a difficult phase internally and externally with massive corruption and terrorist activities hitting the headlines. The government was unable to control Pakistan-backed terrorism in Kashmir & Kashmir (J&K). The situation was so bad that even Lal Chowk was virtually under siege by terrorists. They would never allow hoisting our national flag here.

BJYM decided to dare terrorists by unfurling our national flag just like Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Narendra Modiji and Murli Manohar Joshi ji had done in the past.?Amid guns and bombs of terrorists and discouragement from the Manmohan Singh government, we started the Tiranga yatra from Kolkata to Kashmir in 2011. We were arrested and Karyakartas were beaten. But nothing could stop us in our mission. J&K and the journey to Lal Chowk was a test of our nationalism, unlike others who go there for picnics and snowballs.

43 years down the line there came moments when our opponents defeated us through deceits. But such things never deterred our determination to serve people. The BJP never compromised with its core values and objectives. The nation will bloom and so will the BJP.