Modi holds massive roadshow in Kerala; Congress asks PM to apologise for 2016 'Somalia' remark on state

Palakkad is one of the seats in Kerala where the BJP is pinning high hopes. BJP state general secretary C Krishnakumar who is contesting from Palakkad, had secured over 21% votes in 2019, which was over 6% more than that of 2014.

Thiruvananthapuram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow at Palakkad in Kerala on Tuesday that witnessed the participation of thousands of BJP workers and supporters.

Modi, who reached Palakkad around 10.30 am, held a roadshow for over 30 minutes in the city. BJP state president K Surendran, BJP Palakkad candidate C Krishnakumar and candidate of the adjacent Ponnani constituency, Niveditha Subramanian, also accompanied the Prime Minister in the open vehicle.

Supporters who thronged either side of the road showered flowers and raised slogans supporting Modi and BJP.

Palakkad is one of the seats in Kerala where the BJP is pinning high hopes. BJP state general secretary C Krishnakumar who is contesting from Palakkad, had secured over 21 per cent votes in 2019, which was over six per cent more than that of 2014.

'Metro man' E Sreedharan contested as the BJP candidate in the 2021 Assembly election from Palakkada and gave a tough fight to Congress, becoming the first runner-up. In 2016 also BJP's Sobha Surendran was runner-up from Palakkad.

BJP state president Surendran said that Modi's visit and the support from the people have boosted the confidence of BJP in Kerala. Even women from the Muslim community came down to greet Modi, he said.

He also noted that Modi would come down to Kerala again for election campaigns.

This is Modi's fifth Kerala visit since January and he has been expressing hopes that the BJP, which is yet to have any Lok Sabha MPs from Kerala, will win a 'double-digit' number of seats this time.

Meanwhile, Congress has flayed the frequent visits of Modi to Kerala. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh asked Modi whether he would apologise to the people of Kerala for comparing the state with Somalia. He was referring to a statement made by Modi during election campaigning in 2016 that the infant mortality rate among the scheduled tribe communities in Kerala was worse than that in Somalia.

"Kerala was the state that the Prime Minister had infamously compared to Somalia. Kerala’s performance on development indicators has been consistently better than all Indian states. Will the Prime Minister apologise to the people of Kerala for his misleading commentary on the state?" Ramesh asked in a social media post.

He also accused that the Modi government of diluting environment and forest laws to help a few favoured corporates, and perhaps to repay the debts incurred for their purchase of BJP’s electoral bonds, thereby continuously assaulting the ecosystem of the Western Ghats.