Uttar Pradesh Elections 2017: The Hint Of Hindutva In BJP’s Plan For Development And Change

The BJP’s manifesto for Uttar Pradesh is a list of pledges for parivartan or change, instead of a list of promises, with nine heads under which are development reforms that the party plans if it is voted to power. But some elements in the 24-page document belie the development mantra that the BJP says it is pushing. Lurking in those pages is subtle content which indicates that manifestos and development may not alone win elections in UP and the party is not averse to a little polarisation.

There are new players in that game and the old ones are out. BJP chief Amit Shah, as he released the party’s Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra 2017 on Saturday, promised to revive the state in five years from “the setbacks it has suffered in the last 15 years of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party rule.”

‘Criminals will be stopped from operating from inside UP prisons. There will be employment, land grabbers and those involved in corruption for decades will be dealt with by a task force,’ said the BJP president.