NEW DELHI, 9 April 2004 — Expressing the BJP-led coalition government’s determination to live up to its promises, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee released the election manifesto of the National Democratic Alliance yesterday. While the manifesto promises development, good governance and peace, it makes a departure from the coalition’s 1999 stand by including the controversial Ayodhya issue.
Describing the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya as “a public and national issue,” Vajpayee said the NDA would not make it a poll plank.
“Ram mandir (temple) is a public and national issue and this cannot be ignored. We want the issue to be resolved either through a negotiated settlement or by a court verdict which would have to be honored by all,” Vajpayee said after releasing the manifesto.
“We do not want to take the issue any further or make it an election issue,” Vajpayee said when asked why had the controversial issue has been included in the NDA agenda at this time.
Flanked by NDA convener George Fernandes and BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Vajpayee said that BJP-led government had fulfilled most of the promises it made to the people in 1999. “I am very satisfied by the performance of the NDA in the last five years. We have confidence that we will again come up with a powerful coalition.”
Putting the temple issue on the agenda does not mark a departure from the NDA’s earlier stand, according to Fernandes. He said a judicial verdict on the issue will be respected, but he was not opposed to solving it through a “negotiated settlement” based on “goodwill and trust.”
Asked for her comments, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Bannerjee said: “We are in favor of a judicial verdict.” She is, however, not opposed to a an out of court settlement of the issue.
“There are only two options to solve the issue, either talks or the judicial process. There is no other way out,” Akali Dal leader Prakash Singh Badal, whose party is another NDA constituent, said.
By mentioning the issue in its election manifesto, the NDA went some way toward satisfying its hard-line Hindu supporters.
Another reason for putting the temple issue on the NDA agenda seems to be its realization that the opposition Congress party is gaining ground. Recent opinion polls have shown that the BJP will easily beat Congress in the elections and the NDA will probably get a small majority in Parliament.
However a poll published by the Times of India newspaper on Thursday said Congress was narrowing the gap after the entry of Rahul Gandhi into politics late last month.
Rahul Gandhi is the son of Sonia Gandhi and the fourth generation of the celebrated Nehru-Gandhi family to enter politics.
A survey conducted in 10 major cities showed that 53 percent of respondents thought the BJP was best suited to form a government after the elections, against 35 percent for Congress. The paper said Congress rating was up eight percentage points since Rahul entered the fray.
Hindu hardliners have threatened to build the temple to Ram by force. This week Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani told a public meeting in Ayodhya that an agreement would be struck soon after the elections between local Hindu and Muslim groups to build the temple there.
While the manifesto includes the Ayodhya issue, a part of the BJP’s Hindutva agenda, it does not refer to Article 370 of the constitution and a uniform civil code for the country.
However, it promises to bring in legislation banning foreign-born citizens from top leadership posts, a proposal aimed at preventing Italian-born opposition leader Sonia Gandhi from becoming prime minister.
The BJP has made Gandhi’s overseas origin a major campaign issue in an attempt to appease supporters who have been demanding a law to prevent the Congress party president from rising to India’s highest office.
Gandhi, who took Indian citizenship in 1983 after living in the country for 17 years, has shrugged off the attacks, saying last week the people of India “have their own minds and they will make a choice.”
She was married to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984.
The manifesto also says that interests of minorities, Dalits, tribespeople and other backward classes would be well looked after. Besides, a comprehensive strategy would be put into operation to bridge the development divide between rural and urban populations.
