The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national headquarters in New Delhi had an unusual visitor on June 20 — Politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam and secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City party committee Nguyen Van Nen had an official meeting with BJP president J. P. Nadda.
India and Vietnam have had cordial relations for decades but the two ruling parties can be considered to be as belonging to two ends of the ideological spectrum, and therefore Mr. Van Nen’s visit is considered unusual.
According to sources, the guest displayed considerable curiosity over the structure of the party, its organisation, internal polls, how members are recruited and trained, and how discipline is maintained by the party. “There was a lot of inquisitiveness about how party cadres are organised, since communist parties world over are also cadre-based, he seemed curious about non-communist cadre-based parties,” the source said.
The meeting was organised under the “Know the BJP” programme that has seen several meetings, in groups, with envoys of various countries stationed in Delhi and even very high profile visits to the BJP headquarters by Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Relations Vivian Balakrishnan.
BJP general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh and the party’s foreign affairs cell convenor Vijay Chauthaiwale were present at the meeting. A statue of Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh will be unveiled on June 21 in front of that country’s embassy in New Delhi.
