By Arun Pratap Singh
DEHRADUN, 2 Feb: Addressing a mega rally of party workers here at Parade Ground today, BJP President Amit Shah raised the party pitch on Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya and challenged Congress President Rahul Gandhi to clear his stand on the issue. This was the first such three-tier meeting of BJP workers in preparation towards the coming general elections to be addressed by the party president in Uttarakhand. During his 40 odd minutes address to the party workers from Tehri and Haridwar Parliamentary constituencies, Shah gave enough hints to the fact that the party considered a good show in Uttarakhand to be very crucial. BJP had won all the five Lok Sabha seats from the state in 2014.
Addressing the workers, Shah said that it was natural that Ram Temple issue would be debated and raised during the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Prayag. He said that no one ought to be confused over the BJP’s stand on the issue. BJP never went back on the issue and it wanted the Ram Temple to be constructed at the earliest at the same place where Ram Lalla was still present in form of statue! He added that Congress on one hand claimed that BJP was doing nothing for the temple and on the other hand, whenever the case came up for hearing, the Congress created hurdles in way of early resolution to the problem! He challenged Congress President Rahul Gandhi to clear his stand whether his party wanted Ram Temple at the same site where Ram Lalla was present or not!
Shah also lavishly praised the interim budget 2019 presented by the interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and claimed that the budget had created panic in the Congress leadership! Claiming that the budget had met the expectations of every section of society particularly farmers, labourers and the middle class. He said that the Opposition was not expecting such a good interim budget and when it was presented in Lok Sabha yesterday by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, the Congress President appeared to be nervous! Shah emphasised that the budget had provided relief to crores of farmers and workers from unorganised sector.
Taking Rahul Gandhi to task, the BJP President further claimed that the Congress President didn’t even understand what were Rabi season and Kharif season! The budget was growth oriented but at the same time had given due importance to the security and defence of the country. The budget allocation to the defence sector was highest ever made by any government in India! He also said that for 10 years Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had never paid due importance to the security and defence of the country, adding that Rahul Gandhi ought to know that during their time, the Army had gone backwards instead of progressing to new heights. Amit Shah praised the Modi government and said that it was during their government that positive changes were made.
He said that the despite ruling the country for over 55 years, Congress did nothing towards implementing One Rank One Pension being demanded by retired defence personnel but the BJP Government had actually implemented it.
Reminding the party workers of the “importance” that his party paid to Uttarakhand, he called upon the party workers to ensure that BJP win again in Uttarakhand. He said that there was not even a single village in Uttarakhand which had not sent its youth to serve the nation by joining the military forces! Shah claimed that Uttarakhand was high in priority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reconstruction and creation of better infrastructure at Kedarnath Shrine was a major achievement, adding that when the pilgrims visit the Kedarnath shrine again in the coming season, they would not only be happier with better amenities there but also have easier travel to the holy site!He added that the BJP led Government had started work on the all-weather road which wasunderway round the clock using the latest technology available at a rapid pace! Speaking about the party workers from the state, he recalled the time when he came before the past assembly polls and called upon the party workers to work harder towards party win in the state. He claimed that he was happy to note that the double engine was working satisfactorily in Uttarakhand. He also claimed that Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had taken on corruption in the state in a big way! The CM had attacked the corruption at its very root in Uttarakhand, he claimed!
Stressing on the importance of winning the polls here for the BJP, Shah also targeted Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati and Samajawadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav over their alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections. Shah claimed that the strength of the BJP was such that it had forced the Bua- Bhateeja (Aunt-nephew) to come together even when they never made eye-to-eye contact and never greeted one another in the past! He claimed that the Mahagathbandhan would never succeed since it was merely an opportunist alliance. No one in Uttarakhand would come out to listen to Chandra Babu Naidu or the Bua Bhateeja addressing them in Haldwani or elsewhere in Uttarakhand! When Modi said that remove poverty, remove corruption and nepotism, all that they said was remove Modi!
The BJP President claimed that BJP Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dealt a hard blow to corruption! He added that scams had become a thing of the past now at the Centre and the Government was focussing on improving the lives of the poor by granting them access to LPG and power, housing and health insurance! In order to carry on such pro-poor policies and ensuring that the country progressed well, it was necessary to bring the BJP back in power once again!
Earlier Shah had reached the Parade Ground at around 12.30 pm! Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and other senior BJP leaders also addressed the party workers! Among those present were the cabinet ministers, party MPS, party MLAs, office bearers of the party including State Party President Ajay Bhatt and former CM RP Nishank!
