BJP manifesto spotlights ‘one nation, one election’, Uniform Civil Code 

UCC, one nation & one election essential now, says Modi

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, April 14: The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Sunday unveiled the ‘sankalpa patra (manifesto)’ for the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has committed to ‘one nation and one electoral roll’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after releasing the manifesto that Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is a necessity of the time.

Modi along with his Cabinet colleagues — Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman — released the BJP’s ‘sankapla patra’ on Sunday morning at the party headquarters in the national capital. The BJP released a reel on the occasion also.  Addressing the occasion, Modi said: “The BJP is committed to one nation and one election”. The Ram Nath Kovind Committee on one nation and one election in its report has recommended a common electoral roll for the country.

The Kovind committee had recommended that there should be a common electoral roll for parliamentary elections, Assembly polls, and local body elections. This is interpreted as a precursor to the unveiling of one nation, one election.

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Modi spoke of the UCC as a passing reference in his speech. The mention of the UCC came at the last part of his speech. Modi largely focussed on the commitment of his government to scale up the welfare measures. He also spotlighted ongoing programmes for inclusion of weaker sections in the livelihood programmes.

The BJP ‘sankalpa patra’ also committed to additional three bullet trains. Modi said that India will commission feasibility studies for three bullet trains for the North, East, and the South of the country.

India’s maiden bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai is under construction. The high speed rail project has missed several of the deadlines. Funded by Japan, the maiden bullet train project is now likely to be completed by 2026.

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Modi in his hour-long speech at the BJP headquarters gave an account of achievements of various programmes of his government. He spoke of the BJP commitment to include the people above 70 years of age in the scope of Ayushman Bharat with medical insurance cover of Rs five lakh.

The prime minister made emphasis on India becoming a developed country by 2047. He also highlighted India’s proposed bid to host the Olympics in 2036. The prime minister also spoke of India becoming a space power.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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