Shivraj plants sapling at Bhopal's Smart City Park, launches Vriksh Mitra drive
Synopsis
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan planted a sapling at Bhopal's Smart City Park on 27 October, accompanied by BJP social media chief Deepak Mhaskey, and launched the Vriksh Mitra citizen drive under his daily #OnePlantADay pledge.
Key Takeaways
Shivraj Singh Chouhan planted a sapling at Smart City Park, Bhopal on 27 October 2026 as part of his daily tree-plantation pledge.
BJP National Social Media Coordinator Deepak Mhaskey was present, underlining the campaign's digital-mobilisation intent.
Citizens can join the Vriksh Mitra ('Tree Friend') programme by giving a missed call to 8929629475 or registering at shivrajsinghchouhan.co.in/engage/plant-with-shivraj.
The campaign runs under the #OnePlantADay hashtag and frames tree-planting as both a personal duty and a collective national responsibility.
India's National Forest Policy 1988 set a benchmark of 33 percent tree and forest cover, providing the long-run policy backdrop for drives like this.
One sapling at a time — Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan kept his daily tree-plantation pledge alive on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, visiting Bhopal's Smart City Park to plant a sapling alongside BJP National Social Media Coordinator Deepak Mhaskey and a group of young nieces and nephews, turning a personal ritual into a nationwide public call to action.
Posting in Hindi, Chouhan wrote: 'Prakriti ki seva hamara dayitva hi nahi, kartavya bhi hai' — 'Serving nature is not merely our responsibility, it is our duty.' He urged followers to join the #OnePlantADay campaign by visiting the link shivrajsinghchouhan.co.in/engage/plant-with-shivraj or giving a missed call to 8929629475 to register as a 'Vriksh Mitra' (Tree Friend).
Smart City Park, a BJP outreach moment
The choice of Smart City Park is deliberate. Developed under the Government of India's Smart Cities Mission, the park is a visible symbol of urban renewal in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh's capital — a constituency Chouhan governed as Chief Minister across four terms. Planting here fuses environmental messaging with the BJP's urban-development record in the state.
Deepak Mhaskey's presence ensures the event travels far beyond the park's boundaries. As national coordinator of the BJP's social media department, his participation is a signal that the Vriksh Mitra campaign is being treated as a structured digital-mobilisation drive, not a one-off photo opportunity.
Daily pledge, national green targets, and the Vriksh Mitra network
Chouhan has framed tree-planting as a daily personal sankalp (resolve), a format that pairs private discipline with public visibility. India's National Forest Policy of 1988 set a long-standing goal of bringing 33 percent of the country's land under forest and tree cover — a target that successive governments have pursued through campaigns ranging from the Green India Mission to state-level afforestation drives.
The missed-call mechanic and dedicated registration link are designed to translate social-media reach into a measurable volunteer base. Whether the Vriksh Mitra programme feeds formally into central schemes such as the Green India Mission under the environment ministry remains to be confirmed — but the architecture of the campaign, combining ministerial credibility, party digital machinery, and a simple citizen action, mirrors patterns seen in BJP-led mobilisation drives across multiple states.
A senior Union minister planting trees daily and inviting citizens to sign up as 'Tree Friends' is feel-good politics — but it also puts numbers on the scoreboard. Watch the participation metrics: if the Vriksh Mitra rolls grow into the hundreds of thousands, this quiet daily ritual will have earned its place in India's green-cover story.
Point of View
The campaign sidesteps the perception of top-down government messaging while still building a measurable digital constituency. For Chouhan specifically, the exercise reinforces his post-CM identity as a people-connect leader in a role — Union Agriculture Minister — where farmer welfare dominates headlines, making green optics a useful soft-power supplement. The Vriksh Mitra model will be worth watching: if it generates genuine enrolment numbers, it could serve as a template for citizen engagement around India's long-stalled 33-percent green-cover goal.
NationPress
27 Oct 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Vriksh Mitra campaign launched by Shivraj Singh Chouhan?
Vriksh Mitra ('Tree Friend') is a citizen enrolment campaign started by Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan that invites Indians to pledge to plant trees. People can join by giving a missed call to 8929629475 or registering at his official campaign website.
Where did Shivraj Singh Chouhan plant a tree on 27 October 2026?
He planted a sapling at Smart City Park in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, accompanied by BJP National Social Media Coordinator Deepak Mhaskey and young family members.
What is the #OnePlantADay campaign?
#OnePlantADay is a hashtag campaign promoted by Shivraj Singh Chouhan under which he commits to planting at least one sapling every day and encourages citizens across India to do the same.
What is India's target for forest and tree cover under the National Forest Policy?
India's National Forest Policy of 1988 set a long-term goal of bringing 33 percent of the country's geographical area under forest and tree cover, a benchmark that guides central and state afforestation programmes.
Who is Deepak Mhaskey and why was he at the tree-plantation event?
Deepak Mhaskey is the National Coordinator of the BJP's social media department. His participation at the Bhopal event signals that the Vriksh Mitra campaign is being run as a coordinated digital-outreach drive backed by the party's online infrastructure.
