PALAKKAD: In Kerala to canvass for votes for his party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the Jisha rape case as leverage against the ruling UDF regime in the state. He said the Chandy regime failed to realize the fallout of atrocities on Dalits.
His speech at the Fort Maidan in Palakkad used all the ammo available to the BJP currently: the rape and murder of the Dalit woman, Jisha, in Perumbavoor, the solar scam rocking the ruling party, mutual corruption allegations leveled by the LDF and the UDF, the humiliation meted out by students to the retiring principal of the Government Victoria College in Palakkad.
Modi also praised his own government for several things: the quick response to the Puthingal fire disaster, and the effort to secure the freedom of a priest and nurses from Kerala held in captivity abroad.
A mammoth crowd assembled to hear the Prime Minister's speech, spilling out of the venue. This, the Prime Minister said, was proof that there is a future for a third front in Kerala. The LDF and the UDF have ruled Kerala alternately every five years and this led to the formation of an "adjustment and cooperation" between the two fronts, he said.
If the UDF indulged in corruption during its term, the LDF would remain silent on it when they came to power and vice versa. Modi dwelt on the solar issue in a sarcastic vein, saying he was afraid to spell out the benefits of solar energy in Kerala as it might have other connotations.
"Fishermen in my constituency (Varanasi) power their boats with solar energy and save Rs 500 per day, but here in Kerala solar energy is a scam," he said.