First-time BJP MPs to get lessons in RSS ideology, Parliament rules

Livemint, June 26, 2014

The newly elected MPs will also learn how to use social media to communicate with the people of their constituency

First-time members of Parliament belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be given lessons on the party?s history, the ideology of Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and rules of Parliament over two days.

The newly elected members of Parliament (MPs), 164 from Lok Sabha and 25 from Rajya Sabha, will also be taught about the steps they should take to nurture their constituency and the use of social media to communicate with the people of the constituency. The training programme, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is being organized in Surajkund, near Delhi, and will start on 28 June.

?The BJP is the only party which organizes such training programmes for its members of Parliament (MPs) and members of legislative assembly (MLAs),? said a BJP leader familiar with the development. He declined to be named. The decision to train MPs and MLAs had started during the tenure of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

BJP leaders say MPs representing the party must be aware of the history and the contribution of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the party?s predecessor, in Indian politics and the RSS, its ideological parent.

The MPs will also be trained to understand the problems of people in their constituencies and how to find a solution with the help of authorities in their Lok Sabha constituencies. The newly elected MPs will also be taught about the different movements started by BJS and BJP. ?When we say history of BJP, it means history of Bharatiya Jana Sangh and how it played a role against emergency. There is no history of BJP without BJS,? said the BJP leader. ?MPs should act like a bridge between the government and people. The biggest demand of most constituencies is to have railway stations where important trains stop,? he said. ?There are several other issues about power, water and MPs must convey the concerns of the people to the government.?

Meanwhile, RSS has also decided to start a course for all the secretaries of MPs to train them about the rules of Parliament, history of BJP and ideology of RSS.

The week-long course for secretaries will also focus on training secretaries on how to use social media for the benefit of MPs.

?It is a certificate course and it is called course in political assistantship. First-time MPs and their staff face problems about rules of Parliament and how to raise a question and give answers to questions raised in Parliament,? said Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, director general of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, a Mumbai-based think tank backed by RSS which is running the certified course.

By training MPs and MLAs about history, Parliament, social media, Modi is trying to bring a system of performance evaluation of MPs, which will play a role while giving election ticket in the next Lok Sabha elections, political experts said.

?There is an attempt to start performance evaluation of MPs and this is just one of the steps. At the end of the five-year term, this performance evaluation will be taken into consideration to decide who should get an election ticket or not,? said Sanjay Kumar, Delhi-based political analyst and director of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). ?The training process in BJP is not new but this time it is being done in a more systematic manner and enforce it as a norm.?

Modi has already instructed MPs to be present in the Parliament and also meet people in the constituency, he said. ?Modi is trying to make MPs more responsible and answerable to the people,? Kumar said.

?The impact of this training will be seen and it will have positive impact.?

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