NEW DELHI, 31 March 2004 — Vowing to crush its rival Congress party and pledging to make India a superpower by 2020, the BJP released a “Vision Document” yesterday. Holding Congress responsible for the country’s problems, the document said: “The BJP holds the Congress, which ruled India for the longest period since independence, principally guilty for the many problems our government inherited. Half a century is not too short a time for a country to be liberated from the curse of poverty and backwardness.”

“The Congress era in Indian politics is now over,” it read. “And the BJP’s era – the era of nationalist, democratic and development-oriented politics – has begun.”

Through the 50-page glossy document, the BJP has also attempted to make up for the lack of its own electoral manifesto. It is fighting elections as a part of the National Democratic Alliance coalition.

The “Vision Document” clearly signals that BJP’s priority is to return to power with a sweeping majority to be able to form a government on its own strength and pass legislation on issues kept on the backburner because of opposition within the NDA camp. These include a ban on religious conversions through “fraudulent and coercive means.” Targeting Italy-born Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s right to prime ministerial position, the BJP also plans a legislation to bar people of foreign origin from holding “important offices of the Indian state.”

The BJP reaffirmed its commitment to construction of a temple at Ayodhya. However, it also expressed its commitment to the judicial verdict on the case.

Unveiling the document, party president M. Venkaiah Naidu said: “The Vision Document is an idea whose time has come. We in the BJP are confident of building a strong nation which should be free from poverty, hunger, illiteracy, terrorism, corruption and exploitation.”

While BJP is riding atop opinion polls predicting its return to power, opponent parties have not yet abandoned their aim to defeat these calculations.

Without naming BJP, Rahul Gandhi, Congress nominee from Amethi, questioned the hype raised about its development agenda during an informal interaction with press people at Amethi. “The developed countries strive for more and more development but they (BJP) say we are fully developed,” Rahul said.

Hurling a political missile at communal politics leading to religious polarization, Rahul said: “I believe in dil ki rajniti (politics of heart) and have come to win the heart, not an election.”

Regarding his mother’s “foreign origin,” repeatedly raised by BJP, Rahul said that he did not give it much importance.

In senior journalist Prem Shnakar Jha’s opinion, all efforts should be made to prevent BJP from returning to power. Describing the sudden importance being given by BJP to “secularism,” as a “facade,” Jha said: “The party cannot control its own ‘Sangh Parivar’, when it goes berserk.” Accusing BJP of having brought India to the “razor-edge” of an environment, Jha said, in another five years’ time it could make the country home to terrorism.

Describing BJP’s India Shining and feel-good factor campaigns as “bogus,” Jha drew attention to unemployment having increased in the country during the last six years. Jha was speaking at a forum organized by a group of citizens to defeat BJP in the coming polls. The forum drew attention to right-wing associates of BJP targeting minorities and the mess they have made of the country’s economy, educational system and political culture.

Congress Revokes Jogi’s Suspension

Finally, former Chhatisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was made to breathe easy by the Congress party. The party yesterday withdrew the suspension order against Jogi and decided to field him against former union minister and rebel NCP leader V.C. Shukla from Mahsamund constituency of the state.

“In view of the apology tendered by Jogi to the Disciplinary Action Committee for his lapses, the party has decided to withdraw the suspension order against him,” Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters.

This announcement was made at a press conference here yesterday as Congress released its second list of 61 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

By announcing that N. Diwakar Rao will contest from Bellary constituency in Karnataka, speculations of Priyanka Gandhi making her political debut from this constituency have finally come to an end. Among other prominent names in Uttar Pradesh are the loyalist of Gandhi-Nehru family Capt. Satish Sharma from Sultanpur, Nirmal Khatri from Faizabad, R.P.N. Singh from Padrauna and Gyanendra Pratap from Kaiserganj.

Meanwhile, seeking to insulate itself from the charge of facilitating division of anti-BJP votes in Uttar Pradesh, Congress has asserted it would continue efforts for an alliance with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh till the end of the Lok Sabha polls.

“We will continue our efforts till the end for unity among the secular forces to defeat the BJP,” party spokesman Anand Sharma said here, replying to a question on Mulayam Singh Yadav’s statement that the possibility of an alliance between his party and Congress no longer existed.