BJP releases 40-point manifesto for Gujarat polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday released the party's manifesto for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, which are slated to be held in two phases on December 1 and December 5.

The party manifesto, released by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, BJP national president JP Nadda, and state party president CR Paatil, has made at least 40 promises including the complete implementation of the Gujarat Uniform Civil Code Committee's recommendations.

We will ensure the complete implementation of the Gujarat Uniform Civil Code Committee's recommendation and create more than one lakh government jobs for women in the next five years," Nadda said on the release of the manifesto further promising that if it will come to the power again, the party will create an Anti-Radicalisation Cell to identify and eliminate potential threats and sleeper cells of the terrorist organisations and anti-India forces.

The BJP, which has been in power in the state for more than two decades, promised free-of-cost, and quality education to all the female students here from Kindergarten to Post Graduation and added that it will provide free two-wheelers to the meritorious college-going female students. It further added free bus travel to women senior citizens and promised to provide one lakh government jobs to the women for the next five years.

For the tribals in the state, the BJP in its manifesto also promised to enable mobile delivery of ration across all the 56 Tribal Sub Plan Talukas in the state and ensured Rs 1 lakh crore under the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana 2.0 for the all-round socio-economic development of tribals.

Adding further, it read that the Birsa Munda Adi Jati Samriddhi Corridor between Ambaji and Umergram will spur growth by connecting every tribal district's headquarters with a 4-6 lane state highway, and by constructing a tribal cultural circuit will connect Pal Dadhvaav and the Statue of Unity to Shabari Dham.

The BJP also promised to provide advanced healthcare facilities in tribal areas by setting up eight medical colleges, and ten nursing/para-medical colleges. As many as eight Gujarat Industrial Development Corporations (GIDC) in the tribal belt will generate employment opportunities for tribal youth, it added.25 Birsa Munda Gyan Shakti Residential Schools will also provide the best residential schooling facilities to 75,000 meritorious students from the tribal community.

On the health front, BJP promised to double the cap under Ayushman Bharat from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per family and ensure free-of-cost medical treatment. Mukhyamantri Free Diagnostic Scheme with a corpus of Rs 110 crore will also be ensured to provide free-of-cost diagnostic services for EWS households.

It further added to provide Rs 10,000 crore in Maharaja Shri Bhagvatsinhji Swasthya Kosht and mentioned that three Civil Medicities, and two AIIMS-grade institutions will also be structured here. The manifesto then promised to upgrade the infrastructure at Hospitals, Community Health Centres (CHCs), and Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).BJP has also promised to provide Rs 10,000 crore under Gujarat Krishi Infrastructure Kosh to develop Khedut Mandis, modern Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC), sorting and grading units, cold chains, warehouses, primary processing centres, and will also expand the existing irrigation network through projects such as Sujalam Sufalam, SAUNI, lift irrigation projects, micro irrigation, drip irrigation.With the additional budget of Rs 500 crore, the party will strengthen the Gaushalas here and set up 1,000 additional Mobile Veterinary Units.

It also promised to build seafood parks in South Gujarat and Saurashtra, build the country's first Blue Economy Industrial Corridor and strengthen the fishing-related infrastructures.

In the electoral manifesto released today, the BJP promised to convert 20,000 government schools into Schools of Excellence in the next five years with a budget of Rs 10,000 crore.

Keshavram Kashiram Shastri Higher Education Transformation Fund with a budget of Rs 1,000 crore, will also be used to construct new government colleges and revamp the existing ones, it read further adding that 20 lakh employment opportunities will also be created in the state. It, then, promised four Gujarat Institutes of Technology (GIT) like IITs as the Centres of Excellence and would emphasise the Gujarat Olympics Mission to create world-class sports infrastructure aiming to host the Olympics in 2036.If BJP wins the assembly election for this term, it has promised Shramik Credit Cards for the labourers that would help them with collateral-free loans up to Rs 2 lakh.

It added that the OBC/ST/SC/EWS students who get into a National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) top-ranking institution in India to any top-ranking world institution for higher education will be given a one-time incentive grant of Rs 50,000.It added the complete implementation of the Gujarat Uniform Civil Code Committee's recommendation and the formation of an Anti-Radicalisation Cell to identify and eliminate potential threats, and sleeper cells of the terrorist organisations and anti-India forces.

It has also put forth that Gujarat can become a USD 1 trillion economy by focusing more on services and investing in human and institutional capacity-building for new-age industries. The party will also attract foreign investment of Rs 5 lakh crore and make the state the Defence and Aviation Manufacturing Hub of India.

We will develop the first-of-its-kind Parikrama Path of 3,000 km encircling the whole state with 4-6 lane roads/ highways by constructing a South Eastern Peripheral Highway and North Western Peripheral Highway, it added.The Gujarat Link Corridors will also be completed by augmenting the highways through the East-West Corridor connecting Dahod with Porbandar and North-South Corridor connecting Palanpur to Valsad.It will also provide seamless connectivity between economic hubs and national highways by developing the Saurashtra Express Highway Grid.The manifesto then mentioned the use of Rs 25,000 crore under the Gujarat Urban Development Mission to transform the urban landscape with a focus on decongesting the existing cities (Satellite Townships) and increasing ease of living (Riverfront, Recreational Parks, Urban Forests, Traffic Management Systems) for citizens.

The Bharatiya Janata Party will also complete the works of Gandhinagar and Surat Metro and will kick start the first metro rail service at Saurashtra (Rajkot) and Central Gujarat (Vadodara).On religious fronts, the party will also work at Devbhumi Dwarka Corridor to establish it as western India's biggest spiritual centre, comprising of the World's tallest Shree Krishna statue.

It will also invest Rs 1,000 crore to renovate, expand and promote temples, following the successful transformation model of Somnath, Ambaji and Pavagadh.It will also spend Rs 2,500 crore to promote Gujarat's culture at the national and international levels by building museums, centres for performing arts, and Sardar Patel Bhawan.