'BJP to clear hurdles for temple if voted for'

Varanasi, Apr 28: The BJP today said if voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, it will work religiously to remove all hurdles in way of Ram temple construction at Ayodhya.

''BJP is committed to construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya. It is a cultural and not a political issue for the party, which if voted to power in UP will remove all hurdles coming in way of a grand temple at Ayodhya,'' former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj told newspersons here.

She claimed BJP will form the next government in UP with a majority under the leadership of Kalyan Singh.

''There is a strong undercurrent in favour of BJP....which will take our voters to the polling booth in large numbers. Even the sultry weather will not stop our voters from casting votes in large numbers,'' she added.

Refusing claims that the traditional BJP voters were ''weather sensitive,'' the former Delhi Chief Minister claimed during the recent civic poll in Delhi, BJP voters voted against Congress in large numbers despite scorching heat gripping the national capital.

''Even in those booths, where the poll percentage was as low as 8-10 per cent, BJP got over 80 per cent of the total votes and the result was Congress being wiped out.'' Ms Swaraj said three main issues were driving the elections in UP this time, including total collapse of law and order machinery in UP, uncontrolled inflation as well as the politics of Muslim appeasement being pursued by all parties excepting BJP and allies.

''After the fidayeen attack at the Ram Janmabhoomi complex at Ayodhya on July 5, 2005, no one of the secular politicians, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav or BSP supremo Mayawati dared to visit the site, only out of the fear of losing Muslim votes,'' Ms Swaraj maintained.

The BJP leader slammed the UP government for delay in shifting SP MP Afzal Ansari, his brother and independent MLA Mukhtar Ansari and their relative Ejaz -- all accused in BJP MLA murder case and lodged in Ghazipur jail presently -- to other jails. ''When the EC has already asked the state government to shift the three individuals to jails in other districts, why is the UP government delaying the transfer on technical grounds. The EC should take immediate note of the delay and ask the UP government to act on the matter urgently,'' she added.

Ms Swaraj also alleged total collapse of law and order machinery in Jammu and Kashmir exemplified by the Srinagar rally of separatist Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, where flags of banned terror outfits were fluttered brazenly.

''If someone dares to hoist the national tricolour on Lal Chowk in Srinagar, the result will be bullets for the patriotic person. But in the same city, flags of terror outfits were being held up with elan and the local administration was only a mute spectator to the entire anti-national episode,'' she added.

The matter has been compounded with the J&K government saying no official permission was sought by the organisers for the concerned rally. ''This means there is no government in the state and everything is going as per the will of anti-national forces,'' she added.

The BJP leader, however, clarified the NDA government was forced to free the three terrorists to end the hijacking of IC-804 plane in Kandahar (Afghanistan) only under pressure from media, especially electronic media.

Queried about the low number of women candidates fielded in UP poll, Ms Swaraj said ''until the bill giving 33 per cent reservation to women in union and state legislature is passed by Parliament, no party is going to give due representation to its women leaders.

''Look what happened in case of panchayats and local body poll...once the law was made giving women reservation in these bodies, the political parties were forced to field the fair sex in elections,'' she noted.

Criticising the UPA government at the centre for uncontrolled inflation, Ms Swaraj said ''my 40-day government in Delhi lost the Delhi assembly election due to rising prices of onions. Similar will happen to Congress in the UP election.'' She, however, claimed that never in the NDA regime at centre was the public confronted with inflation. Even during the Janata Party government in 1977 there was no inflation, she recalled.

UNI