BJP president Amit Shah steered clear of issues inv-olving party ideology, incl-uding the construction of a Ram mandir in Ayodhya and the uniform civil code, while fielding questions fr-om reporters a
BJP president Amit Shah steered clear of issues inv-olving party ideology, incl-uding the construction of a Ram mandir in Ayodhya and the uniform civil code, while fielding questions fr-om reporters at BJP headquarters here on Friday.
To a question on Sangh Parivar affiliates like the VHP and Bajrang Dal raising the pitch of their demands for the construction of a Ram temple, Mr Shah said, “These (ideological issues) are part of our manifesto, and if you read it you will find that it is mentioned there as to how we intend to work on them.” He was silent about the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in UP.
To a question on the controversy over the Bajrang Dal training camp in UP, Mr Shah said the state government should take acti-on if it found anything unl-awful. The BJP president also attacked the Congress, alleging that “scams, scandals and policy paralysis” were prevalent during 10 years of UPA rule.
Referring to the first NDA government, headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee, he said the nation’s development journey, which started then, seemed to have come to a halt under the UPA government.
When asked whether the BJP expects the AIADMK to support the government on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill after campaigning aggressively against chief minister J. Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Mr Shah appealed to all political parties to support pro-people schemes and legislation. He also clarified that the BJP’s struggle against the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal would continue and the decision to send finance minister Arun Jaitley to attend her swearing-in function should not be seen as a sign that the party was reaching out to the Trinamul Congress.
To a question on ally Shiv Sena’s criticism of the Modi government, Mr Shah quipped that it only showed that there was democracy in the NDA. The BJP president refused to be drawn into the row over party MP Subramanian Swamy’s attacks on RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and his demand that the economist be ousted from his post.
