Giving a new twist to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the UP polls were not just about electing MLAs or the Chief Minister of the State but it would also decide the future of the country.
Flanked by party candidates from the Braj area going to polls on February 10, Shah urged the voters in Mathura to support the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming assembly elections.
The assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will take place on February 10, 14, 20, 23 and 27, and March 3 and 7.
Addressing voters in Mathura, Shah highlighted the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor, abrogation of Article 370, and also mentioned government schemes like Ujjwala. He further stressed that the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh had improved under the BJP government.
"This assembly election is not just to choose an MLA or chief minister. The UP election is an election which will decide India's future," Shah said.
The Union home minister said that voters in the Braj area of Uttar Pradesh had supported the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, 2017 UP assembly elections and also the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and appealed to the voters to support the party again to continue the development work being done across the state.
"UP is the biggest state in India where over 22 crore voters live. If this state is not developed, India will lag behind. This election will express with which party or ideology the state will go. The state has seen Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party governments previously. While the SP regime would work for one community, the BSP would work for another. For the first time, overall development of UP has been done during the BJP regime," he said.
Shah also spoke on the Ram temple, and said, "Without the help of Narendra Modi government could Ram temple be constructed in Ayodhya? Could anyone re-design Kashi Vishwanath Dham? It is the BJP government which did not care about vote banks and restored the glory of these centres of faith.”
Shah also invited Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to come to the Ram temple.
"Akhilesh used to say 'Mandir wahi banayenge, magar tithi nahi batayenge'. Now bhoomi pujan has been done, you are also invited, you should also come," he said referring to the SP chief.
Shah further said, "The BJP always demanded abrogation of Article 370 and the whole nation agreed on it. No one touched it because of vote bank politics. You voted for the Modi government and Article 370 was abrogated... Kashmir is now an inseparable part of India.
