“Ram mandir aur vikas saath-saath chal sakte hain,” Shah said. While the reference is unchanged from the 2014 BJP Lok Sabha polls manifesto, the emphasis is significant in the context of UP’s polarised politics even as Shah made it clear that he was referring to speeding up ongoing legal proceedings in the case. The manifesto calls for “exploring all possibilities within the Constitutional framework in construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya”.
The manifesto also focuses on issues BJP has been raising – law and order, corruption, illegal mining and the menace of politically sponsored land grabbing and promises separate task forces on all three areas.
Countering the suggestion that BJP has borrowed from Samajwadi Party programmes, Shah said the distribution of laptops will not be guided by community interests and that the party has added the promise of 1GB free data. But BJP also seemed keen to shore up its flanks against populist themes such as loan waivers and clearance of sugar cane dues promised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
