Hartals and the red flags stand in the way of development of the state, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development Shashi Tharoor said here on Friday.
He was speaking at a seminar on ‘contemporary politics and Kerala development’ being organised by the Press Club here.
‘’Kerala has high potential for development. But investors who wish to make long-term investment, which would facilitate sustainable development, fear the hartals of the state. The political parties of the state should give up their narrow political interests to pave way for development. They should develop a more mature attitude towards this.
IT and tourism are the potential development areas of the state and they should be given more focus,’’ Tharoor said.
Former Minister N K Premachandran said that political parties should have their role in development.
“It is true that they should have a more mature outlook towards development. But keeping them away from the agenda of development would lead to depoliticisation,’’ he said.
Planning Board member C P John said that the Kerala model of development was a question and not an answer for how development ought to be.
‘’We should discuss reasons for underweight and malnutrition rather than obesity. The media is not highlighting the fact,’’ he said.
Planning Board member G Vijayaraghavan, journalist C Gouridasan Nair, among others spoke.