Union Home Minister Amit Shah sought votes for the BJP for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Ram Temple, border villages, and tourism in Uttarakhand. He assured Pauri voters to take care of Pauri personally if party nominee Anil Baluni wins.

Addressing the last leg of poll rallies on Tuesday for the first phase of voting to be held on April 19 in Kotdwar of the Pauri Lok Sabha constituency Shah, said, “Ram Lalla will celebrate his birthday after 500 years in the temple, instead of a tent.

This, he said “is a proud moment for us for we have seen the consecration of Lord Rama in our lifetime. The Congress party and its supporters kept the construction of Ram Temple hanging for 70 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured timely court verdict, laid the foundation stone, and carried out the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya within five years”.

Ever since the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (predecessor of the BJP) was formed after Independence, our leaders have been consistently demanding, through election manifestos, that the nation would not have laws based on religion. The country would have a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Today, I feel proud to say that our Uttarakhand chief minister was the first to enact a Uniform Civil Code in the country. Now, Prime Minister Modi has included UCC in our manifesto to implement it across the nation.

Shah lauded Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for his development works in the state. “I want to ask Congress leaders what they gave to the state in 10 years. Congress gave 53,000 crore in ten years while Modi released 1.66 lakh crore as grants, three times more.”

He further said, “Apart from this, 84,000 crore was given to the state for infrastructure development, 31,000 crore for roads 50,000 crore for developing railway network, and 100 crore for airport development by the Modi Government. We are happy to see a developed Uttarakhand and satisfied that our chief minister is doing great work.”

“We have improved tourism facilities to stop mass migration from the hills of Uttarakhand. The Modi Government has constructed 900 kilometers of Chardham Mahamarg between Yamunotri and Gangotri at the cost of Rs 12,000 crore. Our leader Narendra Modi has constructed Rs 8000 crore Delhi-Dehradun economic corridor, Rs 2,200 crore new national highway projects were initiated in Tanakpu and 17,000 crore 216 kilometers three new railway track projects were started by the Modi government in Uttarakhand.

Besides, Rs 23,000 crore was given for 14 kilometers of rail track between Devprayag and Jangshu. Uttarakhand today has the largest railway tunnel. Modi government constructed 23 railway flyovers, increased heli services, and Rs 50 crore airport development works were started in the last five years.”

Shah stressed that the biggest work to stop migration from the hills, the vibrant villages programme, was started by the Modi Government. “Every village along the Chinese border will have more population than 1980s in the next five years. This is a guarantee of Modi and you note my words,” said the Union home minister.

He took a dig at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge saying “He stated what have Uttarakhand and Rajasthan to do with Kashmir but he doesn’t know that majority of the Jawans from Pauri Garhwal gave their blood to the save Jammu and Kashmir. Your party leader did not hesitate to insult late general Bipin Rawat calling him a street ruffian.”

Seeking votes for BJP’s Pauri Garhwal candidate Anil Baluni union home minister said, “You send Anil to Lok Sabha and I will take care of Garhwal. Modi needs a campaign from from Uttarakhand that can take forward the vibrant village progagramme.