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Ram temple likely in BJP's U.P. manifesto
By Neena Vyas
NEW DELHI, DEC. 2. The Ram temple issue is expected to figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, although the Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, insisted that ``it is not an electoral but a national issue'' on which ``the people would like to know the party's stand.''
Mr. Rajnath also ruled out any post-poll alliance to form a government in U.P., declaring that his party along with the existing allies would form the new government. He, thus, ruled out a government with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) although some senior BJP leaders here have stated that no party is expected to get a majority in U.P. and therefore an alliance with the BSP after the elections could not be ruled out.
With reports that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad making it clear that after March 12 it will go ahead and start construction at the disputed site even if there is no ``agreement'' between Hindu and Muslim leaders and no judgment from the courts, Mr. Singh was clearly wary of signalling that the BJP was all set to make this a major poll issue and bring upon itself the charge that it was trying to communalise the situation.
The temple issue did not figure in the joint National Democratic Alliance (NDA) manifesto for the 1999 elections as the BJP had agreed with its allies to drop its ``contentious issues.''
At an informal meeting with reporters here, the Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, stated that if the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) fell through in Parliament, the U.P. Government would certainly legislate a law similar to POTO. He charged the Opposition with making POTO an election issue by opposing it in Parliament.
Mr. Rajnath Singh spelt out the various steps he had taken to bring around the BJP's falling support in the State - recently he has signed a deal with the Oriental Insurance Company to insure every schoolchild attending a government school (the premium of about Rs. 6 crores to cover 3 crore school children will be paid by the State government). He claimed that about 35,000 people have been recruited in new jobs and of a large number of the ``most backward'' and the ``most oppressed'' had benefited under the new reservation policy.
With polls expected to take place in February-March, the BJP has started the exercise of defining the ``political characteristics'' (read caste composition) of every constituency, he said. With the State executive of the party scheduled to meet on December 4 and 5, the state election committee will then begin its work and complete the list of candidates to be recommended to the BJP's central election committee which will finalise the `tickets'.
Mr. Singh evaded a direct response to a question on whether his party will concede a separate State in western U.P. - `Harit Pradesh' - as demanded by the party's new alliance partner, Mr. Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal. ``We will make the whole of U.P. a `harit pradesh' (literally a ``green and prosperous State'')'' he remarked.
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