On 19 September 2024, Mahesh Langa, senior journalist with the Hindu, reported that the BJP’s membership drive in Gujarat was rife with fraudulent enrolments.

In the first week of October, Langa was detained for an alleged GST scam. Langa said he had nothing to do with the firm in which his wife was a silent partner, but he was remanded to police custody for 10 days.

Ahmedabad-based Langa is known for his unsparing criticism of the BJP. His most recent exposé revealed that the party was ‘enrolling’ members without their consent or knowledge. Kamleshbhai Thumar, for instance. A resident of Junagarh in Gujarat, he was admitted to Dasji Bapu charitable hospital in Rajkot for a cataract surgery.

At 11.00 pm, he was woken up by a man asking for his mobile number. The same man approached every in-patient, with the same request. Most obliged. Soon after, they all received OTPs with the message that they were about to become members of the BJP. Thumar recorded a two-minute video of this ‘recruitment’, which went viral on social media. Unknown to them, over 250 in-patients had become BJP members overnight.

Langa’s report also mentioned a couple in Visnagar who visited the civil hospital for an anti-rabies vaccine. Before the wife could get her shot, they were asked to share an OTP, as per “new regulations”. And voila! Prakashben Darbar had become a primary BJP member. Her husband objected, questioning the sneaky enrolment without consent, but his protests fell on deaf ears.

AAP legislator Chaitar Vasava told Langa that officials were asking MGNREGA workers to become BJP members. He reported that Mukesh Nimawat, principal of Kumari M.R. Gardi Vidyalaya in Surendranagar district, had instructed a teacher to message all parents to send their mobiles to the school with their kids. Before they knew it, they had all become BJP members.........

© National Herald