Kalyan

Ayodhya, Sept. 26: Former chief minister Kalyan Singh today kicked off the BJP’s heartland election campaign with a walk down the streets of this pilgrim town and vowing to end what he called the humiliation of Hindus.

The pledge to build a “proper” Ram temple came at a time the increasingly faction-racked party is finding it tough to keep its flock together for the elections scheduled early next year.

As many as 15 legislators have deserted the party in the last three years, 10 of them switching loyalties earlier this month to the Samajwadi Party, which rules Uttar Pradesh.

Kalyan visited the Ram Lalla makeshift shrine and the Hanuman Garhi temple as he sounded the bugle for the war against chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Congress-led UPA.

“We have to light the flames of a virulent form of Hindutva, put an end to Islamisation of politics and intensify the sense of nationalism,” he said during a stopover near Mohammadpur-Katra, a village on the Lucknow-Faizabad Road, about 20 km from the temple town.

“Temple construction is my ultimate goal. But this is not a political issue. It is linked to the identity of the nation,” he said.

In Ayodhya, campaign posters screamed “Azad Hind”, “Azad Vatan” and “Azad Ayodhya” (liberated country, liberated homeland and a free Ayodhya).

Kalyan also demanded that the party give space to the backward castes so that Hindutva could unite different social groupings.

The BJP vice-president was accompanied by state unit chief Kesrinath Tripathi and Opposition leader Lalji Tandon. But many key leaders, like Kalraj Mishra and Vinay Katiyar, stayed away.

Kalyan slammed Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Mulayam for their appeal not to target any particular community for the recent spurt in terror attacks. “They (the attackers) don’t come here out of the blue and disappear after striking at the majority community. They are being given shelter by Muslim families,” he thundered.

“The truth is political parties are not speaking out because they don’t want to antagonise Muslims.”