BJP AND THE INDIAN POLITICS

BJP strikes at 'Islamisation of politics'

Press Trust of India

New Delhi, November 28: In unmistakable signals of the BJP playing its Hindutva card, senior party leader Kalyan Singh said 'Islamisation of politics' would be the party's key plank in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Buoyed by the party's success in the recent civic elections in the state, the BJP is now eyeing the number one slot in the Assembly polls in the state that once swept the saffron party to centrestage over the Ayodhya issue.

Elaborating on 'Islamisation of politics', the Hindutva hardliner said in an interview that political parties were going in for 'minority appeasement' through moves like reservation for Muslims and granting a minority status to the Aligarh Muslim University.

He also voiced suspicion that the delay in execution of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal could be because of the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.

"This is nothing but Islamisation of politics," he said, adding that terrorism and threats to internal security were also plank on which the party would go to the people.

Rejecting possibilities of extending support to the BSP in forming the next government, he said his party had a bitter experience of sharing power in the state. And this time, he claimed, the BJP would be able to win a full majority.

"We have thrice carried the palanquin of Mayawati and now there is pain in our shoulders. It was a very painful experience. We do not want to repeat it," the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, who is leading the saffron campaign in the crucial polls, said.