Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh would decide the future of the state and the country as he showcased the steps taken by the centre and the state government for the development of Hindu religious places.
Addressing a meeting after paying obeisance at the famous Banke Bihari Temple at Vrindavan in Mathura, Shah also attacked the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BSP for indulging in the politics of caste and appeasement and said that the country could be kept safe only if there was a BJP government at the centre.
''The forthcoming assembly polls is to elect the ministers and MLAs......it is to make sure that the state and the country continue to move on the path of progress under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi,'' Shah added.
He said that the BJP government has taken several initiatives to develop important Hindu religious places. ''We launched Ramayana and Mahabharata circuit...Kashi Vishwanath Dham is ready in Varanasi.....Chitrakoot is also bein being developed,'' he said.
Shah also said that the government had plans to develop Mathura as an International Tourist Centre. ''Give us another chance and we will make sure that Mathura-Vrindavan becomes internationally famous as religious centres,'' he said.
The former BJP national president said that the previous regimes in Uttar Pradesh only took care of specific castes and were neck-deep in corruption. ''Both SP and BSP pursued caste politics....the BJP government on the other hand took steps for the welfare of every community,;; he added.
Mathura would go to the polls in the first phase of polling on February ten. Two ministers in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet Shrikant Sharma and Chaudhary Luxminarayan would be trying their luck in the polls again this time.
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