LUCKNOWS: The Bharatiya Janata Party has drawn up an elaborate electoral strategy to ensure maximum concentration in Uttar Pradesh and draw maximum political mileage out of the Mandir issue for wresting the state and using it as a spring board for capturing power at the Centre.

The BJP campaign would revolve round the Ram Janmabhoomi issue projecting both the Chief Minister Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and the former Prime Minister Mr V.P. Singh as villain of the piece and highlighting atrocities committed on kar sewaks their massacre in Ayodya denial of civil liberties and violation of all constitutional proprieties.

Dr Murli Manohar Joshi President of the BJP who along with Mr Atal Bihari Bajpayee and two national general secretaries Mr Kushabhau Thakare and Mr Rudra Sen Chaudhary attended two day meeting of the state executive which finalised electoral strategy and campaign contours disclosed that a charge-sheet would be prepared against Mr Mulayam Singh who was “a blot on democracy” and would be taken to the people for ousting his Government.

The BJP president made no secret of the fact that the Mandir would be the plank but not objective of the Bharatiya Janata Party. “If returned to power we would build up the nation which is in a shambles and the people would construct the temple. The BJP government would cooperate with the people wanting to construct the Ram temple”.

Though the BJP leader claimed a popular upsurge for his party yet he was not confident of the BJP returning to power at the Centre with absolute majority. In reply to a question at a press conference here recently Dr Joshi said “we can win majority”.

Dr Joshi said that the people would be mobilized all over the country on the slogan of “Ram and roti” since the country was facing not only a serious economic crisis but also the crisis of identity. Ram did not denote religion but high ideals. His party was opposed to a theocratic state and therefore the Hindu rashtra would not be a theocratic state.

While advocating for a presidential form of government since the present Cabinet system had failed to deliver the good and created more problems than solved the BJP president felt that now a national government at the Centre earlier favored by Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not practicable

Dr Joshi spoke about the serious threats posed to the political and economic independence of the country under the present dispensations and said that if political and economic independence was to be preserved then elections were must. The polls he felt would throw up a stable government which would be in a position to govern effectively and take harsh decisions for the economic recovery and also combat cultural dangers which were looming large since calculated efforts were being made to distort culture and history of the country.

The BJP leader blamed the Congress president Mr Rajiv Gandhi for growing economic and political instability in the country by getting a puppet government installed. The Government was so weak that it could neither present the regular budget nor the railway budget. With deteriorating economic situation and a weak government in office he feared that stringent conditions for the IMF loan might be imposed and the country might be forced to devalue its Rupee.

Article extracted from this publication >> March 15, 1991