Surat(Gujarat): BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi plans to organise marathons at over 1,000 locations spread over the country to concretise his pet project for installing a huge statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Nearly 50 lakh people are expected to run in a marathon at over 1,000 locations across the country, said an organizer.
The campaign is ostensibly to collect iron pieces from common people to build the statue, but the actual objective seems to a run-up before the Lok Sabha elections.
By February end, BJP workers will reach out to 1.87 lakh sarpanches to collect and bring back farm iron and soil, in branded boxes fitted with tracking devices that will be used to build the statue.
Each sarpanch will be given a letter signed by Narendra Modi, who is also writing to 2.5 lakh school principals to join in.
Organizers claim that they will reach out to 50 crore Indians across five lakh villages and 450 of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.
Initially the party had planned to organize 'Run for Unity' marathon with 5 lakh people from 565 locations.
But with Lok Sabha elections approaching, the number of participants has now jumped to 50 lakhs from 1000 locations.
A youth organization named Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) will be organizing these marathons.
CAG members include people who have left jobs with multinationals like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and McKinsey and are alumni of IIMs and IITs.
Congress made fun of these marathons saying that Modi is more involved in imagery and BJP supporters are trying to manipulate history and play with people's emotions.
Modi has already started sending personally singed letters to each sarpanch. Letter carries Modi's message an request of participating and donating a piece of iron and a photo from each village will become part of a massive collage.
Modi is also writing to principals of 2.5 lakh secondary and senior secondary schools to conduct essay competitions in which 5,500 schools will be given total prize money of 2.5 crore in different categories.
