The Hindu : Front Page : BJP will build temple: Advani

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Monday, Feb 16, 2009
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BJP will build temple: Advani

“Mandir issue” once helped party catapult to power

— Photo: PTI

Bracing for battle: BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Arun Jaitley at a rally in Gorakhpur on Sunday.

Gorakhpur (U.P.): The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani on Sunday asserted that the party remained determined to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya, saying the “mandir issue” helped it catapult to power at the Centre before.

“The party has not forgotten its resolve to construct the Ram temple at Ayodhya. It was the mandir issue which finally took the BJP to power at the Centre and several States and changed the course of Indian politics,” he said. “The BJP is still committed to the construction of Ram Mandir. The real essence of ‘Jai Sri Ram’ can be realised only after the Ram temple is built in Ayodhya,” he said while addressing the ‘Rashtra Raksha Vijay Sankalp Rally’ here.

Mr. Advani said five years of the UPA government witnessed an upsurge in terrorism and accused the Centre of worsening the plight of the common man. There were no cases of farmers’ suicide in BJP-ruled States, while such incidents were occurring in non-BJP States, he claimed.

Mr. Advani charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with functioning according to the dictates of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

He said the party would face the electorate on issues of terrorism, corruption and farmers’ plight. Questioning the veracity of the Pakistan government’s claims on arresting those involved in the Mumbai attacks, he said, “My question is whether the role of the ISI behind every terror attack was probed by Pakistan. Unless the role of the ISI was probed, no terrorist would ever be caught. Till date, there is no information about the murderers of the former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto. The Centre should not allow itself to be befooled by Pakistan.” Till Pakistan handed over underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to India, there was no point in having talks with the neighbour, he said.

Accusing the Congress of playing vote-bank politics, Mr. Advani said, “The PM has not given any answer till date why Afzal Guru [convicted in the Parliament attack case] was not hanged. Even the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence awarded to Afzal Guru.” He claimed that Guru was not hanged because he belonged to a minority community.

On the UPA’s “aam aadmi” slogan, he said, “Despite its concern for the aam aadmi, the prices of essentials have gone up in the last three to four years.” — PTI

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