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| Monday, 9 February 2004 |
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Indian PM seeks another term to complete unfinished tasks AYODHYA, India, Sunday (Reuters) India's prime minister called on the nation to elect him to a new term in power, saying he needed to complete unfinished business such as the building of a Hindu temple on the site of a razed mosque. Atal Behari Vajpayee made his appeal as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the federal coalition, launched its election campaign in the Hindu holy town of Ayodhya. "We have come to you to seek another term of five years," Vajpayee told a rally of some 30,000 people at a local airstrip in the Hindi heartland state. "There are many unfinished tasks...among them is the task of building a magnificient Ram temple on the site of his birth in Ayodhya," Vajpayee said as the crowd cheered. Ayodhya is located in India's largest and politically key state of Uttar Pradesh. Vajpayee has called for early national elections to capitalise on an economic boom, strong gains in recent state elections and prospects of peace with Pakistan. The independent election commission was expected next week to announce dates for the election, which is likely to be held in phases in April-May. Vajpayee said he was not trying to make political capital of the deeply divisive temple row and added that it should be harmoniously resolved through talks between Hindus and Muslims. Ayodhya, an ancient town of hundreds of temples and narrow, winding streets infested with monkeys, has been a focus for tensions between India's majority Hindus and minority Muslims since a Hindu mob razed a 16th century mosque in 1992. Although Vajpayee referred to the Ram temple as an unfinished task, it came at the end of a 25-minute speech devoted almost entirely to publicising his government's achievements and projecting the BJP as a party of good governance and growth. Senior BJP and Hindu leaders who spoke before Vajpayee also dwelt more on building roads, providing education and helping farmers boost productivity, indicating the right-wing BJP would occupy a more centrist position in Indian politics. |
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