On her first visit to Lucknow after returning to the BJP,Uma Bharti on Sunday made it clear that Hindutva was going to be the cornerstone of her campaign in Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to the Assembly elections next year. There will be no compromise on Hindutva and Ram,she said. Jo Ram ka hoga,wahi kaam ka hoga, she said,addressing party workers at the BJP office. She called UP her karmabhoomi. In her half-hour speech,Uma spoke about her memories of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement,recalled her first visit to Ayodhya as a child and her protest against putting a lock on the doors of the disputed shrine,peppering them with couplets from Ramcharitmanas. Addressing UP Chief Minister Mayawati as sister,Uma said she would oppose her Ganga expressway project and protest against the atrocities on farmers whose land had been acquired for the Yamuna expressway. Party leaders in UP told me that the Mayawati government does not share its plans about the state. But now she will have to because we are living in a democracy. We will fight for this, she said. Uma said the people of UP had voted Mayawati to power in 2007 with some expectations. But my sister could not meet the expectations and now time has come for change, she said. She said the Samajwadi Party could not be an option in UP,and the Congress was nowhere in the race. She asked workers to go to villages to connect with the people. Uma offered her blessings to Rahul Gandhi on his 41st birthday. Since Rahul is the son of my elder brother,late Rajiv Gandhi,I wish him a long life,and I am going to gift him a book which mentions an incident when Jawaharlal Nehruji had invited RSS to participate in the Republic Day parade, she said. She advised Rahul to remember that if his mother belongs to Rome,her buaa (aunt Uma) belongs to Ram.
