BHOPAL: Union minister and Jhansi MP Uma Bharti on Tuesday said the lynching of a police officer in Bulandshar by a mob on a rampage over suspicions of cow slaughter, was shocking and unfortunate.
"The incident needs to be probed in depth and it's good that the Yogi government has already assigned the case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT)," she said.
She also reiterated on Tuesday that she won't contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, but would, instead, focus on the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and ensuring a clean Ganga.
Just a few days back, another union minister, the minister of external affairs and Lok Sabha member from MP's Vidisha seat Sushma Swaraj had announced in Indore that she won't contest the 2019 general elections owing to urgent health concerns.
Talking to journalists in Bhopal, Bharti, the former MP chief minister also expressed confidence that Shirvaj Singh Chouhan led BJP would come to power for the fourth time in MP, while PM Narendra Modi too would be given another chance by people of the country in 2019 polls.
Importantly, in February this year, Bharti had for the first time announced taking a break of three years from electoral politics for urgent health reasons and then also made it clear that she would neither contest the 2019 general elections nor get elected to the Rajya Sabha.
On Tuesday, while maintaining that her health had improved, Bharti, one of the frontal leaders of the Ram Temple movement said "I will focus the next year and half only for the cause of uninterrupted flow of clean Ganga river and the Ram temple construction. For that I would begin Ganga Pravas and Yatra from January 15 to create public awareness for the cause clean and uninterrupted flow of Ganga river," said Bharti.
While maintaining that she would be in politics till last breath of life, Bharti said "I won't contest the next Lok Sabha polls, but return to electoral polls after a year and half. During the year and half, when my sole focus would be Ram temple construction and the cause of river Ganga, I would also be available for the BJP to campaign in elections."
She also ruled out that any andolan (movement) was needed for Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya. "What is needed now is the construction of temple via consensus and dialogue among all political parties in the country. All political parties will have to sit together and decide that entire country will live in harmony only after the Ram temple is constructed in Ayodhya," said Bharti.
She also raised the issue of massive gathering of Muslims from across the globe at the Tablighi Ijtema in same Bulandshahar district. "Around 10-15 lakh people had gathered at the Tablighi Ijtema for which tents were erected in an area of 6-7 km. Entire gathering was kept secret and mysterious and even media personnel were not allowed entry into the conclave. It's alarming that the violence has happened in the same district while the Ijtema was still underway," said Bharti.