NEW DELHI, JANUARY 28: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta today claimed he would allow construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in a peaceful manner - as peaceful as the demolition of the Babri Mosque.``Why should I stop Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad from constructing a temple until there is a law and order problem?'' Gupta asked journalists today when questioned about whether he favoured construction of temple in Ayodhya.He said he would not mind the construction if it was done peacefully, before adding that the demolition of Babri Masjid too was peaceful. He, however, merely smiled when he was reminded of the hundreds who were killed in the post-demolition riots.Unlike his media-image of being a forgetful person, the septuagenarian Chief Minister was alert during the press conference and most of his answers were crisp and to the point.On the dropping of the three contentious issues of Ram Temple, Uniform Civil Code and Article 370 from the party's agenda, he said, ``It is not a question of giving up these issues. NDA's agenda is BJP's agenda.''Gupta was recently in the eye of a storm when he openly advocated the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee overruling his statement.Gupta said the state government's initiative in enacting the Religious Places Act was necessary because of growing terrorist activities across the Indo-Nepal border and it was not intended to be misused against any section of the society.The Chief Minister expressed concern over increased ISI activities in the state's border areas and said the Act should be amended if there was any violation of the fundamental rights of citizens. Asked whether it infringed on people's Fundamental Right to Worship, Gupta shot back, ``If it is so, the court will shoot it down anytime.''He asserted that his government had no plans to allow state employees to participate in RSS activities, as had been done by the Gujarat government.On the agricultural and industrial backwardness of the state, the Chief Minister blamed the usual partisan approach by successive central governments towards UP, despite the state having 16 per cent population of the country.During the first three five-year plans, the Central allocation as well as its projects for UP were far less than those granted to other states. It was only during the fifth plan (during the Janata regime of which the BJP too was a part), that UP's growth came at par with the national average but was pushed back in subsequent plans, he said.Gupta, however, emphasised that there was no going back on the state government's decision to privatise the power sector, while claiming that the whole reform process would be reviewed periodically.He said that it would be ensured that power rates were not increased. Even the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission did not allow the increase of more than 16 per cent, he said.``While going in for agreements, this problem would be taken care of,'' he said and hastened to add that some people, on the other hand, had told him that they wanted undisrupted power supply even at a higher rate.
