UP elections: BJP to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya if voted to power

LUCKNOW: The Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto, released on Friday, seeks to reach out to the Most Backward Castes while more than matching the sops offered by its rivals and attempting to retain its core voters in the state.

Ten million jobs within five years, farm loans at 1% interest, tablet computers and laptops to class X and XII students, respectively at subsidised rates figure among the key promises, even as the party has opposed reservation for Muslims and reiterated its resolve to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.

It has also promised to install statues of other leaders and icons, including from the MBCs, in the parks and memorials built by the Mayawati government.

Then, there are a few unique offers, including gifting a cow to every family below poverty line and making available to farmers cow dung and cow urine which can be used as fertiliser and pesticide.

Among other sops to the farming community, including fixing support price at the cost price of the produce plus 50% profit, the manifesto promises small and marginal farmers aged 65 and above a pension of 24,000 a year.

The 4.5% sub-quota for minorities within the 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes will hurt the interests of the backward castes, Surya Pratap Sahi, chief of the party's state unit said. Congress' promise to raise it to 9% and SP's resolve to raise it to 18% will create a lot of resentment in the society, he said.

Agricultural land will be acquired only for public purposes and acquisition rate will be six times the market rate, the manifesto says. However, it adds that there will be no forcible land acquisition.

The party has promised an unemployment allowance of 1,500 per month to jobless youth, 500 more than the SP. However, instead of offering free tablet computers and laptops like the SP, it has offered tablets at 1,000 and laptops at 1,500 to class X and class XII students respectively from poor families.

High-speed broadband connectivity to each school and college, educational content and software in Hindi UP-centric information on Wikipedia and You tube in Hindi are among its other promises. The party has promised to set up 10 ultra mega power plants to produce 20,000 MW of electricity. The Ganga Expressway project will be scrapped on environmental concerns, it has said.