The biggest party? Count us in

Last November, the BJP had launched a membership drive based on missed calls to a toll-free number. By April, it claimed to have registered 10.5 crore members (1.80 crore in UP; around 20,000 in Indira Nagar), though the Opposition said the numbers were misleading. BJP chief Amit Shah had then announced the Mahasampark Abhiyan, a programme to reach out to its new members.

It hasn’t begun too well for Chaurasiya, a former municipal corporator and an “active” BJP member who claims to have enlisted about a hundred members on his own. As Tiwari fires a barrage of questions on the Ram temple, Chaurasiya and party ex-state secretary Santosh Singh guide Tiwari’s son Sachin, 34, through the verification exercise.

Chaurasiya asks Sachin for his membership registration number but the 34-year-old doesn’t remember. “Look for it in your phone’s message box,” says Chaurasiya. “When you made that missed call during the membership drive, you would have got a message asking for your name, age, sex and address. If you had replied, the party’s central server would have sent you your registration number,” Chaurasiya explains.

Sachin finds his registration number and Chaurasiya tallies it with his own list. He then asks Sachin to give a missed call to another toll-free number. “One more call and you are a BJP member,” Chaurasiya says. Sachin gets a new text that reads: “Thank you for confirming your BJP membership. Please share your details with your fellow active member”. Chaurasiya then notes down Sachin’s voter I-card number in his primary membership form.

Tiwari’s tenant Saurav, 19, butts in: “Mandir ab to banana chahiya. The BJP is strong today only because of the support it got on the temple.” Chaurasiya and Singh slink out, leaving another team-mate, Suresh Pati Tripathi, to deal with the angry new members. “The matter is in court. Besides, the government doesn’t have enough numbers in the Rajya Sabha,” says Suresh Pati.

Next, they are at Ram Manohar Chaurasiya’s home, which has five new members. Chaurasiya’s team asks them for their I-cards. The family members break into a scramble, looking for their cards. Finally, only Ram Manohar’s 18-year-old nephew Ankit manages to find his Aadhaar card. “Remember to call me with details of your voter ID when you get it,” says Chaurasiya.

He then helps them with the forms. In the column marked area of interest, Ankit fills “sports” and his uncle Ram Manohar fills “social service”. “Aapne suna hoga, I contributed nearly 2,000 saplings to our neighbourhood park last year,” says Ram Manohar.

As they leave, local corporator Devendra Verma, part of Chaurasiya’s team, distributes saffron BJP scarves to all family members who put them around their necks.

At the gate, six of the team members decide to leave — Union minister Kalraj Mishra is in the city and they have to call on him. Ward president Shashank Shekhar Srivastava and Devendra accompany their mandal president to their next destination — the home of B L Gupta, a garment shopowner.

As they wait for Gupta, Chaurasiya says he won’t visit the two Muslims on his list. “Most of the 30,000 Muslim voters in this are Sunni, and don’t support the BJP,” he says.

Gupta is now here, and asks, “Can my wife be a member too?” Chaurasiya explains that this drive is for those who registered through the missed call facility. “Bhabhiji will be made party member later, after this campaign,” he says, stopping to take sips of the fizzy drink Gupta has offered him.

Just then, Chaurasiya’s phone rings. “Call me later. I’m busy,” he brusquely tells the caller, who was inquiring about his business of hybrid vegetable seeds. “I am the franchisee of a Bangalore-based hybrid seed producing firm. I supply seeds to retailers in 31 districts,” he says.

By 11 am, the team has verified 31 names. The next couple of homes draw a blank — advocate Rakesh Kumar Mishra has gone to the High Court and Hindi professor S P Tripathi has left for Lucknow University. So they decide to go home and return in the evening.

At 6 pm, they are at Tripathi’s home, Devendra asks him to fill the ‘suggestions’ column in the form. Tripathi writes the Centre must start building the Ram temple before the 2017 Assembly elections if it hopes to win in Uttar Pradesh. “Otherwise, the BJP will lose Hindus’ faith,” he writes. Running out of space, he complains there should have been more space in the form.

Tarun Tiwari, another member, wants the party to “take care of its workers”. “After coming to power, the party forgets about its workers,” he says, handing back the form.

Purushottam Kumar Tripathi, a grocery shop owner, complains about the poor state of roads. “The Lucknow mayor is from the BJP, yet, look at our condition,” he says.

Chaurasiya and team meet 13 new members in the evening round. At 8.30 pm, they call it a day, and head for Chaurasiya’s office, that’s on the ground floor of his two-storeyed house. As they go through the membership forms, Shashank says, “Most of them had strong views on the Ram temple. I agree with them. I’ll make sure I write this in my own membership form,” he says.