Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress of stalling the Ayodhya land dispute for several decades. Modi was speaking at Palamu district’s Daltonganj city as part of the BJP’s campaign ahead of the Assembly elections that are scheduled to begin on November 30.

“Had they wanted, a solution could have been found much earlier,” he said. “But they did not do that, they cared about their vote bank. Such thinking of the Congress affected the country.”

The Supreme Court had on November 9 ruled that the disputed land in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, would be assigned to a trust, which would then take a decision on constructing a Ram temple there. The court also ruled that the Sunni Waqf Board be allotted five acres of land at an alternative plot in Ayodhya to compensate for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

Modi also vowed that the Bharatiya Janata Party would safeguard the state’s “jal, jungle, and zameen [water, forest, and land]” if brought back to power. “The disappointed Opposition may say whatever they want, the BJP will protect your jal, jungle, zameen,” he said. “The party will stand as a wall to protect them, will not let anything happen to them.”

Modi said that the BJP had made an attempt to eliminate the threat of Maoists from Jharkhand and establish a peaceful atmosphere. “Governments used to get toppled here, they didn’t want to serve people but simply enjoy the power,” the prime minister said. “How could there have been proper roads, industries and electricity, given the situation which was here.”

The ruling BJP government in the state worked day and night to end corruption in the last five years, the prime minister said. He also congratulated Chief Minister Raghubar Das for completing his five-year term. “The BJP government has provided good governance in Jharkhand over the past five years,” he said. “That is why, for the first time in the state’s history, a chief minister completed his five-year term.”

The prime minister also condemned the Maoist violence in the state last week and offered his tribute to the four policemen who were killed in the attack. The prime minister is expected to address another rally in Gumla later in the day.

The state elections will be held in five phases, and results will be announced on December 23.

Also read:

  1. Kicking off Jharkhand campaign, Amit Shah accuses Congress of delaying Ayodhya case, Kashmir problem
  2. ‘Jal, jungle, zameen’: In Delhi, hundreds of Adivasis demand their legal right to forest land
  3. 10,000 people charged with sedition in one Jharkhand district. What does democracy mean here?