Thiruvananthapuram: Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced ‘New Kerala with Modi’ as the NDA slogan for the assembly election at a function here, marking the conclusion of state BJP chief K Surendran’s ‘Vijay Yatra’ and the launch of the alliance’s poll campaign.
Amit Shah launched a blistering attack on both the LDF and the UDF, saying that the two fronts were engaged in a competition for corruption, in the process making the state a laggard in development and progress.
As a result of government rotating between LDF and the UDF, Kerala, which used to be number one in literacy, social reforms and development, is today number one in corruption, political violence, crimes against women and the spread of Covid infection, he said.
While it was solar during the UDF rule, it is dollar in case of the Pinarayi Vijayan government, Shah pointed out and posed a series of questions about dollar and gold smuggling for the chief minister to answer.
The Union Home Minster asked the chief minister, who he said was accusing the Centre of using the central agencies against the state government, to answer whether it was true or not whether the main accused in the scams was employed in an office under the CM and if she was appointed at a salary of Rs 3 lakh per month on the basis of a forged certificate.
He challenged the chief minister to tell the people of the state, which he is obliged to do as the occupant of the chief minister’s chair, whether the accused lady had gone on foreign trips in the company of his former principal secretary.
Amit Shah poo-pooed the arrangement between Congress and the communists, which fought each other in Kerala, but were fighting together against BJP in West Bengal. In both states, the two parties are in alliance with communal parties.
In Kerala, the Congress is in alliance with the Muslim League, but in Bengal they are partnering with Sharief’s party, while in Maharashtra they have Shiv Sena as alliance partner, he pointed out and wondered what political direction are they giving to the people.
Referring to Sabarimala, the Union Home Minister said the Congress party kept quite when Pinarayi’s police was beating up devotees who protested against the government move to forcibly allow entry of women to the hill shrine and declared that His party’s stand on Sabarimala was that it should be under the control of the devotees.
Amit Shah used a significant part of his speech to talk about Metro man E Sreedharan, who was a star attraction of the event and pointed out that the distinguished technocrat was an inspiration for him to continue in public service whenever he thought of retiring because he was 56 years old.
He said that Sreedharan’s choice of BJP to continue his mission of contributing to nation-building was a recognition to the saffron party and that he would get the opportunity to carry on with his mission under the BJP.
