Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Finding the development agenda a bit repetitive in the last three elections, the BJP for the 2022 state Assembly elections in its bastion of Gujarat has returned to the core Hindutva agenda promising to implement the uniform civil code if voted back to power in the prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
In its election manifesto released on Saturday, the BJP has also promised to start an “anti-radicalisation cell” against “anti-national elements” if it retained power. In addition the ruling party has also promised creation of 20 lakh jobs if it was allowed to continue its 27 years of uninterrupted rule in the state for five more years.
Held within eight months of the infamous Gujarat riots, 2002 Assembly elections without being spelt out in so many words was held on the basis of a total communal divide giving Modi, for whom it was the first election as the chief minister, an advantage.
But since then the BJP had tried to divert the attention from communalism to development and all the three subsequent elections in 2007, 2012 and 2017 were held with the BJP underlining development of the state as its main agenda. But after continuously ruling for 27 years, the BJP was fighting shy to again highlight development which would only pin-point the failure of the subsequent party governments in implementing its electoral promises.
The union home minister Amit Shah had dropped enough hints on Friday about the BJP’s core poll plank in the next month’s elections for the 182-member state when he made a direct reference to the Muslims and for the first time described 2002 communal riots “a punishment” to the “anti-social elements” who acted to destroy the social fabric under the “protection of the Congress” which supported them for its “vote bank politics.” He was emphatic that these elements were “taught a lesson” during the riots for which Gujarat had been spared of communal disturbances in the last 20 years.
Uniform civil code along with Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and abolition of article 370 discontinuing the special status for Jammu and Kashmir had been three core Hindutva promises the BKP had been making to identify itself as a party different from other political outfits.
Releasing the BJP’s election manifesto in Gandhinagar on Saturday, the party national president JP Nadda said the “anti-radicalisation cell would identify and eliminate the threats of destabilisation as well as the sleeper cells of radical groups, terrorist organisations and anti-India forces.”
Mr Nadda’s comments bear an echo with what Amit Shah had said on Friday. “During the Congress rule in Gujarat [before 1995], communal riots were rampant. Congress used to incite people of different communities and castes to fight against each other. Through such riots, Congress had strengthened its vote bank and did injustice to a large section of the society,” Mr Shah said.
While releasing the BJP’s election manifesto, the party president said today: “A new law will come into force that will help identify those who damage private and public properties. These anti-India forces will be identified and penalised.” He added: “We will ensure complete implementation of the Gujarat Uniform Civil Code Committee’s recommendations.”
Incumbent Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Gujarat BJP chief CR Patil were also present to release the party’s election manifesto. Taking a swipe at the opposition, Mr Nadda claimed: “Opposition parties making fake promises are free to do so because they’re never going to come to power. So they’re not even accountable, unlike the BJP.”
He said apart from establishing a Gujarat Institute of Technology, 20,000 government schools will be converted into Schools of Excellence and 20 lakh employment opportunities will be generated for the youth.
Rs 10,000 crores for developing agricultural marketing infrastructure, ₹ 25,000 crores for irrigation facilities, offering medical insurance worth Rs10 lakhs under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, developing three medicities and two state-of-the-art hospitals in the state are among the other promises made by the party in its manifesto.
The manifesto also promised Shramik Credit Cards for labourers with collateral-free credit up to ₹ 2 lakh. The BJP has promised to complete the Gandhinagar and Surat Metro corridors and begin work on the first Metro rail service at Saurashtra (Rajkot) and Central Gujarat (Vadodara).
Mukhyamantri Free Diagnostic Scheme with a corpus of ₹ 110 crores will ensure free-of-cost diagnostic services for households belonging to the economically weaker sections. For the tribals in the state, the BJP in its manifesto promised to enable mobile delivery of ration across all the 56 Tribal Sub-Plan Talukas in the state and ensured ₹ 1 lakh crore under the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana 2.0 for the all-round socio-economic development of tribals.
