India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hosted members of political parties from ten nations which New Delhi had deemed ‘friendly’ on Wednesday, including Russia, in order to provide insights regarding the country’s ongoing parliamentary election.
Several of the party’s top leaders made appearances at the ‘Know BJP,’ event, including party president Jagat Prakash Nadda, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The latter noted on X (formerly Twitter), that the politicians’ visit to India “will contribute to a better understanding of our robust democratic processes.”
The guests were from different parts of the ideological spectrum, hailing from Australia’s Liberal Party, Vietnam’s Communist Party, Bangladesh’s Awami League, Israel’s Likud Party, and Russia’s United Russia party.
Speaking to RT correspondents in New Delhi, the head of United Russia’s International Relations Department, Valeria Gorokhova, noted that the event provided a good opportunity to learn about the BJP, its election manifesto and how the campaign is being run.
Last month, the party hosted the ‘Know BJP’ program for representatives from several foreign embassies, including Russia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia, ahead of election season.
The BJP’s manifesto for this election, ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ (Modi’s guarantee) focuses on continuing existing welfare schemes and reiterates the BJP’s resolve to implement a one-nation, one-election system, as well as roll out a Uniform Civil Code, as outlined in the 2019 manifesto. The Uniform Civil Code would introduce uniform laws applicable to people of all faiths, which would cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption.
“The event reaffirmed the BJP’s interest in increasing multi-vector interaction with Russia, including the inter-party dimension,” the Russian mission noted.
India’s election started on April 19 and will continue until June 1; votes will be tallied on a single day – June 4. Around 968 million people, more than the population of the EU, US and Russia combined, may cast ballots to determine who gets a seat in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.
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