File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Agence France-Presse)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his party's
celebration of its first year in power at the Centre with a mega rally in Chandrabhan, a village in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura, 160 km from national capital Delhi.
The BJP expects about 1.5 lakh people to attend where PM Modi is likely to announce the implementation of 'One-Rank-One-Pension'. OROP, a long standing demand of ex-servicemen's associations, relates to payment of uniform pension to defence forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.
The choice of Chandrabhan - where 3000 policemen and commandos have been deployed today and heliports for three choppers have come up overnight - is loaded with symbolism. It is the birth place of Deendayal Upadhyay, an ideologue of the Jan Sangh, from which the BJP sprang.
Deendayal Upadhyay propagated integral humanism - "antyodaya" or the rise of the last man in the queue - and today's rally is seen as a signal from the Prime Minister that the government is pursuing inclusive growth with the poor at the centre of its policies.
PM Modi had ridden a huge wave to victory last year pitching his humble background as a tea-seller on trains. In recent months however, he has been attacked by the opposition, which has accused him of being "anti-poor" and "pro-big industry" in his reforms.
The Opposition has also alleged that in his first year in office, PM Modi has been away on too many foreign trips and has neglected to visit poor farmers whose crops were destroyed in unseasonal rain.
A strong counter is expected at today's 'Jan Kalyan' or public welfare rally; sources said several pro-poor policies launched in the BJP-led government's first year will be show-cased and the PM is likely to make new pledges.
This week BJP leaders will at many rallies "highlight welfare measures and policies and initiatives taken by the government for the welfare of the poor, downtrodden and farmers," Union minister Ananth Kumar said on Saturday.
The Modi government took oath on May 26, 2014, after the BJP won a majority in the national election, the country's first in 30 years.