KULLU, 14 February 2003 — India’s Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani yesterday kick-started electoral campaign in the northern Himachal Pradesh (state) by picking on the Congress party to justify his own Bharatiya Janata Party’s stand on the sensitive Ayodhya issue. Blaming Congress for adopting a confused stand on Ayodhya, Advani said, “Even late Rajiv Gandhi had launched his campaign from Ayodhya promising to establish a Ram Rajya. Even the Gujarat campaign (of Congress) was started after offering prayers at a temple.”
“They (Congress) are confused and do not know which line to pursue,” he said. Asserting his party’s aim to contest poll on developmental issues, Advani specified, “We will respond if the opposition rakes up issues such as Ayodhya and Hindutva.”
Advani was speaking to reporters ahead of an election rally in this picturesque town of the state. While addressing the rally in Dhalpur grounds in Kullu, Advani focused on corruption charges levied against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal. He described such allegations as a “bunch of lies without any basis.”
Referring to unprecedented developments in education and other sectors that have taken place in Himachal Pradesh under the BJP government, Advani promised to convert the state into India’s Switzerland in terms of tourism, employment and prosperity, if the party is voted back to power.
The BJP also promised special protection for the cow if they are voted back into power in the northern Himalayan state. “The government would seek help of both the public and non-governmental organizations to set up cow sadans (centers) to be developed for the protection and propagation of cows in the state,” Dhumal said. In the past, cows have been rounded up in Himachal Pradesh and driven to neighboring states with sizable Muslim populations.
Muslims are allowed to slaughter cows, a practice that often sparks clashes with Hindu activists bent on preventing them. Dhumal, exploiting another Hindu extremist plank, has already proposed bringing in a controversial law banning religious conversions in the state.
