Bharatiya Janata Party says Bihar visit of foreign diplomats part of party’s ‘Know BJP’ programme

New Delhi: Amid criticism over the visit of a foreign delegation to Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday explained that the visit falls under its outreach programme, “Know BJP”, undertaken by the party’s national president J.P. Nadda.

The two-day visit, which started on November 2 and concluded on November 3, facilitated diplomatic representatives from the embassies of Japan, Indonesia, Denmark, Australia, the United Kingdom, Bhutan, and South Africa.

The saffron party said the diplomats were taken on a visit so that they get first-hand exposure on how the election campaign is being conducted by the BJP and give them an insight into India’s vibrant democratic processes.

In an official release, Vijay Chauthaiwale, in charge of the BJP’s foreign affairs department, underlined that during their stay, the diplomats attended a public rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Arrah, where they witnessed the massive turnout and energetic participation of the crowd. The delegation also interacted with senior BJP leaders like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Vinod Tawde, and observed the door-to-door campaign at the grassroots level.

The visit concluded at the BJP state headquarters in Patna, where the diplomats engaged with senior state leaders to understand the party’s organisational structure, communication strategy, and election management system.

As he further explained: “The initiative is aimed at familiarising foreign diplomats with the party’s ideology, functioning, and outreach model. Besides, it will also demonstrate how the BJP reaches out to people at different levels of society, especially during election campaigns.”

Similar visits by foreign diplomats under the same initiative have taken place in other states, including Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan, during previous election cycles.

The visit to Bihar is important, though, because it coincides with a critical phase in the Bihar Assembly elections, which are due to be conducted in two phases on November 6 and 11 and whose counting will be done on November 14.

The timing has inevitably drawn political attention, given the high-stakes contest underway in the state.

As the campaign schedule progressed, the presence of an international diplomatic delegation attested to the BJP’s organisational strength in terms of infrastructure and the party’s reach into the electorate. It gave space to the party to project itself as a globally recognised and politically mature entity that was confident of engaging international observers in a democratic exercise. For diplomats, the visit has been a rare window into the inner details of the workings of India’s electoral machinery and the ways of mobilisation of one of its biggest political parties.

However, the visit has not remained free of political interpretation. The Opposition parties have looked at it through a critical lens, seeing this as an attempt by the ruling party to use international attention to its benefit during the election season.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has accused the ruling alliance of resorting to diversionary tactics and of using such engagements to influence public perception. Leaders from the Congress and other opposition parties also criticised the propriety of foreign diplomats engaging with one political party during a period of active campaigning.

Political analysts observe that while the stated purpose of the visit is diplomatic and educational, it also creates a visible overlap between international diplomacy and domestic politics. By hosting diplomats during the height of its campaign, the BJP has effectively merged electoral optics with international engagement, lending the visit a distinctly political undertone. The timing and framing of the initiative make it difficult to separate the diplomatic observation from the political messaging.