Elections a secular exercise, illegal to seek votes in the name of religion: SC
india Updated: Jan 03, 2017 00:44 IST
Bhadra Sinha, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
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Uttar Pradesh
BJP president Amit Shah (second from left) releases the BJP manifesto
for the U.P. Assembly elections, in Lucknow on Saturday. Union Minister
Kalraj Mishra (left), U.P. BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya (third from
left) and Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath are also seen in the picture.
| Photo Credit: Rajeev Bhatt
U.P. manifesto: BJP promises Ram temple, 1 GB free data
BJP president Amit Shah (second from left) releases the BJP manifesto
for the U.P. Assembly elections, in Lucknow on Saturday. Union Minister
Kalraj Mishra (left), U.P. BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya (third from
left) and Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath are also seen in the picture.
| Photo Credit: Rajeev Bhatt Document released by Amit Shah offers laptops to students, ban on cow slaughter
There’s something for everyone in the BJP’s election manifesto for
Uttar Pradesh — it affirms the party’s core Hindutva ideology while
balancing it with development and welfare schemes, including freebies
like laptops, internet and LPG connection, and promises strong action
against crime, corruption and land mafia.
The manifesto touched upon contentious issues such as the alleged communal exodus, cow slaughter, triple talaq and the Ram Mandir, while also reaching out to farmers, landless labourers, women and youth.
Party president Amit Shah released the manifesto or “Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra” here on Saturday with senior leaders from the State, including Keshav Prasad Maurya, Yogi Adityanath, Kalraj Mishra and Manoj Sinha present. “Politics of nepotism and caste will be delivered a death sentence. It will be start of the politics of performance,” Mr. Shah said.
Months after BJP MP Hukum Singh claimed that bad law and order situation was causing Hindus to migrate from Kairana, adjoining Muzaffarnagar, the party has vowed to constitute a “special department in the police and appoint a deputy collector in every district, especially in western UP, to prevent migration due to communal tension.”
The BJP reiterated its stand on the Ram Mandir, saying it “will explore all possibilities within the purview of the Constitution to construct a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.” The party also referred to triple talaq, saying once in power in the State, it would push the case against it in the Supreme Court based on the “opinion” of Muslim women.
Preservation of cows and promotion of dairy industry also featured prominently.
The BJP promises to not only provide cows to landless farm labourers under the Godhan scheme but also shut down all illegal abattoirs and ban with immediate effect mechanized abattoirs in the State.
“Under the previous governments, there has been a fall in livestock.
Due to illegal trafficking, the dairy industry is not growing in U.P.,”
reads the manifesto. “We want it to be like the times of Lord Krishna
when rivers of milk and ghee flowed in Uttar Pradesh,” Mr. Shah said.
The BJP also reached out to the peasant community, promising waiver of crop loans for marginal farmers, loan with zero interest rate for marginal farmers, and a system to ensure payment to sugarcane farmers within 14 days of sale and that their dues would be cleared within 120 days of the party coming to power.
Landless workers would get an insurance of ₹2 lakh and a ₹20,000 crore CM farmers irrigation fund set up. A “multi-purpose” Gareeb Kalyan Card or poor welfare card would be provided for free health care facilities.
On the education front, the party offered many freebies, including free laptops (a scheme already run the in Uttar Pradesh) and one GB internet data free per month to all youth entering college under the Swami Vivekanand Yuva Internet Yojana.
When Mr. Shah was asked how different the scheme was from the laptop distribution scheme of the Akhilesh Yadav government, he said his party would distribute the laptops “without any discrimination on the basis of caste or religion.”
Significantly, the party also promises to provide free education to all girls till graduation level and to boys till class 12, which is extendable till graduate level if they score more than 50 per cent marks in class 12.
Mr. Shah said the manifesto was compiled after taking suggestions from and considering the “aspirations of 10 crore people”.
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The manifesto touched upon contentious issues such as the alleged communal exodus, cow slaughter, triple talaq and the Ram Mandir, while also reaching out to farmers, landless labourers, women and youth.
Party president Amit Shah released the manifesto or “Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra” here on Saturday with senior leaders from the State, including Keshav Prasad Maurya, Yogi Adityanath, Kalraj Mishra and Manoj Sinha present. “Politics of nepotism and caste will be delivered a death sentence. It will be start of the politics of performance,” Mr. Shah said.
Months after BJP MP Hukum Singh claimed that bad law and order situation was causing Hindus to migrate from Kairana, adjoining Muzaffarnagar, the party has vowed to constitute a “special department in the police and appoint a deputy collector in every district, especially in western UP, to prevent migration due to communal tension.”
‘Demography changed’
“Due to communal tension, villages were emptied and U.P.”s demography changed...” Mr. Shah further said. “If a government follows politics of appeasement for vote banks, it cannot give justice to all citizens,” he said while claiming that once his party comes to power FIRs would be lodged within 24 hours of a person filing a complaint, without any bias.The BJP reiterated its stand on the Ram Mandir, saying it “will explore all possibilities within the purview of the Constitution to construct a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.” The party also referred to triple talaq, saying once in power in the State, it would push the case against it in the Supreme Court based on the “opinion” of Muslim women.
Preservation of cows and promotion of dairy industry also featured prominently.
The BJP promises to not only provide cows to landless farm labourers under the Godhan scheme but also shut down all illegal abattoirs and ban with immediate effect mechanized abattoirs in the State.
The BJP also reached out to the peasant community, promising waiver of crop loans for marginal farmers, loan with zero interest rate for marginal farmers, and a system to ensure payment to sugarcane farmers within 14 days of sale and that their dues would be cleared within 120 days of the party coming to power.
Landless workers would get an insurance of ₹2 lakh and a ₹20,000 crore CM farmers irrigation fund set up. A “multi-purpose” Gareeb Kalyan Card or poor welfare card would be provided for free health care facilities.
On the education front, the party offered many freebies, including free laptops (a scheme already run the in Uttar Pradesh) and one GB internet data free per month to all youth entering college under the Swami Vivekanand Yuva Internet Yojana.
When Mr. Shah was asked how different the scheme was from the laptop distribution scheme of the Akhilesh Yadav government, he said his party would distribute the laptops “without any discrimination on the basis of caste or religion.”
Significantly, the party also promises to provide free education to all girls till graduation level and to boys till class 12, which is extendable till graduate level if they score more than 50 per cent marks in class 12.
Mr. Shah said the manifesto was compiled after taking suggestions from and considering the “aspirations of 10 crore people”.
“Give us a chance. We will remove U.P. from the list of BIMARU States within five years,” Mr. Shah said.
The
party also made many promises on the law and order, and corruption
front, issues central to its campaign rhetoric against the Samajwadi
Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.o o o
