Amit Shah questions Oppn stand on Ram temple issue

Will drive out every single infiltrator after winning LS polls

ALIGARH : BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday targeted the Opposition over a slew of contentious issues, including the Ayodhya land dispute and the NRC, at a rally in Aligarh. Speaking at an event of the party’s booth-level workers, Shah said the BJP is “committed for construction of a Ram temple at the same site in Ayodhya” and reiterated that the Congress, the SP and the BSP must clarify their stand on the matter.

ALIGARH: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Wednesday targeted the Opposition over a slew of contentious issues, including the Ayodhya land dispute and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), at a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh.

Speaking at an event for party’s booth-level workers, Shah said the BJP is “committed for construction of a Ram temple at the same site in Ayodhya” and reiterated that the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) must clarify their stand on the matter.

The BJP chief said the Narendra Modi government submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court to return land acquired near the disputed site in Ayodhya by the Centre to its owners.

“We want that a grand Ram temple is constructed at the same spot. The Congress, the SP and the BSP... should clarify their stand,” said Shah.

The Supreme Court is hearing petitions to decide the title suit in the long-pending Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.

On the question of the NRC, which is being prepared for Assam, Shah said the Modi government wants to implement the register of citizens, but Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders are against it. “Should not we drive away the infiltrators?” Shah asked his party workers from the stage he shared with UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Union minister Maneka Gandhi among others.

“After winning 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Modi government will drive out every single infiltrator from the country… Infiltrators can be vote bank for the SP and BSP. It is a question of national security for the BJP,” Shah said.

The BJP president dismissed the opposition’s attempt to present a united

front against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “The grand alliance is a farce… It won’t make any difference to the election results,” he said. Leaders of the grand alliance like West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu

Naidu are all regional leaders and they have no national influence, Shah said. He also slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi for dismissing the assured income assistance scheme — PM-Kisan — for the farmers announced in the interim budget by the Modi government last week.

Shah said the previous Congress-led UPA government gave ₹53,000 crore to farmers as loan waiver while the Modi government announced an annual scheme of ₹75,000 crore for assured income of farmers.