BJP pledges to turn India into economic tiger

An Indian man paints symbols of the Trinamul Congress Party, a key ally of India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party at a workshop in Kolkata yesterday. Paper wrapped election symbols made with bamboo sticks are very popular during election campaign in India which appears as big business opportunity for hundreds of craft workers. PHOTO: AFP

"The time has come to turn India into an economic superpower," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People's Party) president Venkaiah Naidu said in a document released ahead of staggered parliamentary polls set to begin April 20.

"We want to turn it into the world's major services provider, a manufacturing hub, a tourist destination and favoured destinations for health-care and higher-education," said Naidu.

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The BJP's 48-page highlighted 25 points for India's all-round economic growth, starting with a project to double India's food production by 2010 and the buttressing of the country's services and manufacturing sectors.

Naidu, however, stressed the vision document was the BJP's personal pledge and not the official election manifesto of its disparate legislative allies who form India's ruling National Democratic Alliance government.

The party also promised to further speed up economic reforms "for a sustained double-digit GDP growth rate to achieve complete eradication of poverty and unemployment" and said it aimed to launch a second green revolution to double incomes of even marginal farmers by 2010.

The BJP, which applauds itself for India's 8.5 percent economic growth and brimming foreign exchange reserves, said it would develop infrastructure in power, telecom, information technology, railways, aviation, shipping, markets and the financial sector.

"We will focus more on connectivity in all spheres and we would start at the village level," Naidu said, adding that besides economic development the BJP will also strive to bring about Hindu-Muslim amity in India.

The BJP pamphlet also pledged to "further strengthen national security both internal and external -- to overcome present and future challenges."