The campaign has been a priority for BJP, minister Jitendra Singh said (File)
The BJP has set itself a big target ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections: Attracting the 2 crore Millennial voters - children born in 2000, who will cast their first General Election votes in 2019. Banking on its strong social media skills, the party is building its "Millennium Voter Campaign" around an app. The programme will be launched on January 18.
"What we will do is to have an app, by which it will be very easy for them to get voter cards,'' said Shivam Chabbra, member of the BJP youth wing Yuva Morcha. The logic, he said, is that once you are in their devices, you will find it easier to get into their minds too.
The campaign has been a priority for the party, senior leader and union minister Jitendra Singh told NDTV. "We know that 2019 will be totally different election to tackle because of this new generation of voters. We know that we have to talk to them differently and that's what we are trying to work out,'' he said.
The exercise was discussed threadbare at a meeting of the BJP's youth wing on Sunday. The mind of the Millennial has been a mystery for many the world over from advertisers, to marketing professionals. So the BJP knows it has its task cut out. And the key, the party feels, is to "engage with voters" as always, said Satender Awana, former DUSU president and ABVP executive member.
But getting the Millennials a voter card is no guarantee of vote. "It's time they paid attention to us,'' said Sonal Kataria, who turns 18 on February 2, adding, "I don't know who I will voter for though".
In his first radio address of the year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stressed on the importance of "new voters".
"We welcome those born in the 21st Century to the democratic system as they will become eligible voters," PM Modi had said on his last
Mann ki Baat radio programme, adding that their vote will become the "foundation of a new India".
He had also spoken of the importance of the New India that these young people help build. "It is now time that a system is created where newest development opportunities are easily accessible for the youth of New India as they turn 18," he had said.