'Tiranga bike rally' for MPs of all parties on Wednesday

The culture ministry will organise a 'Tiranga bike rally' from the Red Fort to Parliament Wednesday morning for MPs, Union minister Pralhad Joshi said, appealing to members of all political parties to attend it.

Briefing reporters after the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting on Tuesday, the parliamentary affairs minister stressed it was a culture ministry programme and not of his party, and urged MPs of all parties to join the exercise at 8.30 am.

At the meeting, BJP president J P Nadda outlined a host of exercises for the party members to undertake during a week-long programme starting from August 9 in the run up to August 15, the 75th anniversary of India's Independence.

Nadda asked party members to take out 'prabhat pheri' (morning procession) between 9 am and 11 am to publicise the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign while its youth wing would carry out ''Tiranga yatra'' on bikes across the country, Joshi said.

Under the campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged everyone to hoist or display the national flag at their house between August 13 and 15.

Party members will also undertake 'prabhat pheri' down to the booth level between August 11 and 13, playing 'Raghupati raghav raja Ram', Mahatma Gandhi's favourite devotional song, or India's national song 'Vande mataram', he said.

In his remarks, Nadda asked MPs to ensure their presence in party programmes and called for working to strengthen the organisation during the week at booths where the BJP has not done well in recent polls.

The party will also be observing Partition Horrors Remembrance Day on August 14. Modi had announced it last year in the memory of the struggles and sacrifices of people during the country's division, saying the pain of partition can never be forgotten.

In the meeting, the BJP president took note of the party's good performance in recent elections, including the local polls in Madhya Pradesh.

The party MPs are set to meet again on August 5 for a briefing ahead of the vice presidential poll on August 6.

The ruling National Democratic Alliance candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar is set to win the poll as a strong majority of electoral college, which comprises all MPs, is backing him. Veteran Congress leader and former governor Margaret Alva is the joint opposition candidate.

Party members were also asked to make the national flag the profile picture on their social media accounts following Modi's call to people to this effect in his 'Mann ki Baat' broadcast on Sunday.

In his Mann ki Baat radio broadcast on Sunday, Modi had said the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' is turning into a mass movement and urged people to put 'Tiranga' as the profile picture of their social media accounts between August 2 and 15.

Nadda tweeted after the meeting, ''Our national flag is a symbol of our independence. In furtherance of the appeal by PM Narendra Modi, we have all decided to hoist our flag in every house from Aug 13th to 15th. I urge everyone to display our Tiranga on their social media accounts.'' PTI KR PTI KR JTR KR TIR TIR