Releasing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election manifesto for Chhattisgarh Assembly polls on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that if the BJP formed the next government, it would take the State’s poor to Ayodhya for pilgrimage, even as the party has bettered some of the ruling Congress’ economic promises, including the ones on the crucial paddy procurement issue.
Describing Chhattisgarh as “lord Ram’s maternal home”, Mr. Shah said the party would introduce the Ram Lalla Darshan Yojana if voted in, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to inaugurate the Ram Temple in the Uttar Pradesh town on January 22 next year, and the State’s residents would have to go to congratulate their nephew returning to “his own home”.
In the manifesto, launched four days before the first phase of polling, the party has offered a slew of direct benefits, including paddy procurement at ₹3,100 per quintal and cooking gas cylinder at ₹500 to poor families, besides financial assistance to married women and landless agricultural labourers. However, it has not made any promise on farm loan waiver announced by the Congress recently and also leaves out the issue of liquor prohibition that the BJP has been vocal about in its campaign.
