Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said BJP does not want to "communalise or polarise" the UP elections, but the state government must address the issue if there is "even some evidence of migration" from Kairana.
Jaitley also took on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing his Aam Aadmi Party government of giving advertisements to only "friendly" media and not to the media houses that are critical.
In an interview to Times Now, the senior BJP leader maintained that 'Ram Mandir' will not be made an electoral issue in UP, where assembly elections are due next year, and his party is not looking to polarise the state to win votes.
A major controversy has erupted over alleged migration from Kairana in western UP, although the state administration has questioned any religion-specific migration there.
"We don't want in anyway to communalise or polarise the election, but if there is even some evidence of migration taking place from Kairana, it's an important issue that the state government there must address it," he said.
Asked about the statements being made by some BJP leaders from the region, Jaitley said if any "local situation" develops in a constituencies, the local MLAs were "bound to react to that local issue" but the party as a whole takes a broader view.
"I think the most issue in UP at the moment is quality of governance and law and order".
He further said, "At the end of the day, whatever statements are made in public domain are in public domain.
"But, I only tell you ultimately it is the party president who determines the stand of the party and therefore as far as electoral strategy of UP is concerned....
"Even in earlier elections, even though BJP stands committed to build a temple in Ayodhya, we have always said that we are not going to make it an election issue. For us its much more than an election issue."
On another controversy surrounding the censor board and on whether its chief Pahlaj Nihalani would be sacked, Jaitley who also holds charge of Information and Broadcasting Ministry said, "I am reasonably certain, that once we are able to announce those new guidelines (for Central Board of Film Certification), the roles of individuals will get diluted.
"How to deal with the individuals, I think you should trust the government. The government will deal with them and advise restraint or take whatever appropriate action is required in the matter," he said.
He hinted that the new guidelines would be out in a couple of weeks.
The government took "a somewhat courageous step" of
withdrawing high demonetisation currency and went in for a large currency swap.
"The fact that India today has the capacity to take these decisions and capacity to enforce them, to experiment boldly even when at a time when the world is looking more inwards, marks an exception as far as India is concerned," the finance minister asserted.
Jaitley also spoke of the country's "stamina" to sustain a decision like demonetisation, which has "clear long-term gains even at the cost of short-term inconveniences".
"Therefore, once we have that stamina notwithstanding fringe positions taken by national parties, one would always be able to implement these extremely successfully. Long-term benefits of these are going to be absolutely clear even if we bear the short-term pains," he said.
He seemed confident that the existing almost 75 crore debit and credit cards in the market, besides e-wallets, will help increase digital transactions. He also made a pitch that these transformations will have to be carried to their logical conclusion.
"There are, of course, even as we reform, domestic trends which are being visible on digitization of payments," Jaitley said, adding that the government has clarity of direction as well as a broad shoulder and stamina to sustain these decisions.
