Rajasthan BJP Unit Says 585 Party Workers Succumbed To Covid, Among Them Many Were Serving People On Ground; Party Will Extend Help To Families

The Rajasthan unit has decided to give the responsibility of the families of the deceased BJP workers to members of legislative (MLAs), members of Parliament (MPs) and public representatives.

Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia is reported to have said earlier this week: "We are fixing the responsibility on the MPs, MLAs and other public representatives of the BJP for helping the aggrieved families of the workers".

Sachin Khare, a senior member working in Poonia's team, told Swarajya over the phone that the party is planning to reach out to the families of the 585 members who have lost their lives to Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic.

A document prepared by the BJP state unit in Rajasthan shared by Khare mentions under their work facet "Seva hi Sangathan" the distribution of 1,008,000 face covers, 552,000 food packets, and 272,000 ration packets. There was a state helpline working that received 14,000 calls—out of which 10,800 were resolved; the 40 district helplines received 12,000 calls, of which 8,500 were resolved.

He says that the work undertaken on the ground by the workers, who are no more, explains itself in the help and material that has been extended to the public by them. "Who was taking the material and help to the people on ground? The workers themselves," he adds.

He says, "Baat yeh aati hai ki itne hamare karyakartaon ki mrityu jo hui, wo kyon hui (why did so many of our workers die)? Jab aap uske andar thhoda jaayenge to samajh mein aayega ki itna zyada BJP ke karyakartaon ne kaam kiya utna actually Congress ki sarkar hote hue bhi in logon ne kaam nahin kiya (when you look closely, you'll understand that BJP workers worked so much but even despite the fact that Congress government is in the state, Congress workers did not do much)".

He adds, "Out of these are 18 workers during 11 days of my own illness (Covid), who succumbed to the virus. I used to communicate with them on a daily basis".

He points out that as members, he and a few others were a bit sceptical at the beginning regarding the move and gesture. This, owing to the shared grief of loss among them and questions relating to how it would actually be taken.

He adds, "We thought we must get the details out...pata nahin achcha lagega nahin lagega, fir yeh thha ki hum yeh bhi dekhenge ki financially kitna strong thhe yeh log. Kya aisa sambhav hoga ki hum inki madad bhi kar saken kisee tareeke se (we didn't know if it would feel right or not, then it was decided that we will also check how strong they are financially and see if we could help them in any way possible). We eventually decided to go for it".

Work and efforts are being made to know and collect information on the financial state and well being of the party members.

Poonia has reportedly added that the state unit will also look into communicating with the families to know their needs, to keep a watch on their well being. The state unit is also reported to be mulling on efforts to help the families in the wedding ceremonies of daughters of the deceased workers, as and when required.

Updates on the details of the deceased workers are pouring in from the different districts, and the state unit workers are keeping a regular watch on updates and putting them together.

Khare adds: "If we start putting down just the details of the work done on ground by the BJP workers, it will come to a lot of data, jismein se 5 GB to photograph hee photograph hain jo saare zila and mandaalon se aa rahe hain (out of which 5 GB are only the photographs which are coming from all the districts and divisions)".

The party is collating the soft data that reflects the contribution of workers on the ground in various districts and mandals.

The final report that comes out after the updates will be shared with party colleagues on the national front. Progress on the matter will be pursued by the state unit.