BJP releases party manifesto for Himachal Pradesh polls
Shimla: Just a week ahead, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its election manifesto on Sunday, promising to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and education in Himachal Pradesh if the party retains power in the upcoming assembly elections.
UCC is meant to replace the currently applicable various laws of respective communities that are inconsistent with each other. These laws include the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, Indian Christian Marriages Act, Indian Divorce Act, and Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act. Party chief Jagat Prakash Nadda released the 'Sankalp Patra' (manifesto) at Peterhoff Hotel here.
Nadda further announced the party would create 8 lakh jobs, set up five new medical colleges, introduce mobile health clinics, and distribute cycles and scooties to female students. The manifesto also promised to implement Mukhyamantri Annadaata Samman Nidhi to provide Rs 3,000 annually to small farmers over and above the Rs 6,000 given through the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. The manifesto also mentions that if BJP retains its position in Himachal Pradesh, it will ensure all villages in the state be connected with roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana in the next five years. Also, it will substantially increase the ex-gratia amount paid to the dependents of Hutatma soldiers who were martyred in different circumstances under the Hutatma Samman Rashi Yojana. It would also survey Waqf properties as per law and set up a judicial commission to investigate the illegal usage of such properties. Importantly, the election manifesto of BJP also mentioned that it will resolve the discrepancies in the remuneration of government employees. The party released the manifesto a day after the opposition Congress released theirs. However, the party leaders claimed that previously the release of the manifesto was scheduled for November 4 and due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally on Saturday in Sunder Nagar and Solan, it got postponed to Sunday.
As the poll battle seems quite formidable for the ruling BJP, political experts feel that the saffron party took a quiet time to devise its election promises. At the same time, they also feel that the mix of unification laws of respective religions, development and welfare promises held up BJP's election manifesto with a separate manifesto for women- a voting segment where measures like free grains, cooking gas connections and toilets have drawn favourable responses for the BJP in different polls.
