Amid Hindu, Sikh migrants from Pakistan, BJP pitches its Delhi chief’s refugee past

Apart from his organisational skills, Virendra Sachdeva’s identity as a second-generation refugee was among the significant factors which led the party to choose him for the post of Delhi BJP president.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in connection with the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme, BJP national secretary Baijayant Jay Panda, citing Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva as an example

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In addition to buttressing what has increasingly emerged as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) main appeal to seek support for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — India’s rising stature on the world stage thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts — the party pitched its Delhi chief’s identity as a second-generation refugee among Hindu and Sikh migrants from Pakistan on Sunday.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in connection with the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme, BJP national secretary Baijayant Jay Panda, citing Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva as an example, sought to urge the refugee population settled in the Majnu ka Tilla area to join the mainstream and encourage their children to “contribute to nation building.”

“I hope that the youth, and especially the children here today, will step forward to do something for this area, for Delhi and the country worthy of recognition by the Prime Minister himself…whose efforts have earned respect for the country across the world,” he said.

Addressing the gathering, which included refugee families from Pakistan and members of the Bhil tribe community, Panda also asked them to help forge “India’s identity as a developed nation by the year 2047.”

“There was a time when his (Sachdeva’s) maternal and paternal grandfathers, even his father came to India as refugees…today too there are many like you who were trapped in neighbouring countries. There is a provision for this in the Constitution and everyone right from Bapu (Gandhi) spoke about it — but only Modiji delivered on it,” he added.

During his address, Virendra Sachdeva promised ‘Diwali celebrations’ to the area’s residents following an interaction with them. (Express photo)

During his address, Sachdeva promised ‘Diwali celebrations’ to the area’s residents following an interaction with them. “I was just talking to one of you — what connected us was stories about our respective fathers. I promised them that just like I’ve come to their house today, they have to come and meet me as well,” he said.

“Let me also tell you that we will have Diwali celebrations not just here — there are three other locations where our brothers and sisters like you are settled in the city — who will also be a part of these celebrations,” Sachdeva added.

Sachdeva belongs to the post-Partition refugee Punjabi community, which has traditionally rallied behind the BJP in the city. The party’s move to choose him is as much an indication of its intent to “reconnect” with the Punjabis as it is an admission of having lost its other core support base, the Baniya community, to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Virendra Sachdeva belongs to the post-Partition refugee Punjabi community, which has traditionally rallied behind the BJP in the city. (Express photo)

Apart from the demonstrated strategic proficiency of the 55-year-old “soft-spoken but firm Pratham Varsh Shikshit Swayamsevak”, i.e., someone who has passed basic RSS training, Sachdeva’s selection, sources said, marks the BJP’s return to its political roots in the capital — set deep in the psyche of Punjabi refugees who flooded the city after the Partition.

An old party hand associated with the BJP for over three decades, the former journalist was born to parents from Muzaffarpur and Peshawar, now in Pakistan, and spent his formative years in north Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, where his family set up a printing press after migrating to India.