Aware that the digital push should first begin at home, BJP initiated several steps to sensitise its MPs, office-bearers, staff and cadre about the benefits of cashless transactions post-November 8. The purpose was to put their apprehensions related to note recall at rest.
Various party MPs and central office-bearers were reluctant at the beginning. But this is now giving way to acceptance.
“There was some initial hesitation and apprehension, mostly due to unfamiliarity with the process but after a few transactions people accepted it. Sensitisation is needed, but people broadly see a reason to move towards it,” Amit Malviya, who heads BJP’s Information Technology department, told ET. He has held several workshops, each lasting around 90 minutes, with small and big groups to educate party’s rank and file on how to go digital.
The party claims its staff at the headquarters here — security personnel, clerks, peons, drivers and others — are now getting their salaries in their bank accounts and are being encouraged to use various payment apps on their mobiles, debit cards and other modes of cashless transactions.
Party men have been taught to use USSD99, Aadhaar card, MMID, UPI and other apps at the workshops.
A presentation was made to BJP MPs at a parliamentary party meeting during the winter session at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah. A similar workshop was held at the BJP office for central office-bearers.
BJP brass was taken aback by some naïve questions than the doubts about going digital, sources said.
“Many leaders were not aware that their ATM cards are also debit cards and they had till now been using them only to withdraw money. In the last week of November, there were many concerns about how salaries would be disbursed to their staff in December,” a BJP office-bearer said.
The party has also arranged workshops for college students, professionals and traders to propagate the idea.
“In Varanasi, a day before PM’s December 21 interaction with BJP booth-level workers, we trained around 300 party members. They, in turn, educated 26,000 booth workers and gave them literature on the benefits of going digital,” Malviya said.
ARTICLE SOURCE: Times of India
