THRISSUR: It was for all practical purposes — the unofficial launch of BJP’s campaign for the 2016 Assembly polls — when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the State on Monday and compared the power of a third front to Lord Shiva’s third eye.
The third force alone has the power, akin to the Lord Siva’s third eye, to eclipse rampant corruption and other issues in the State, the Prime Minister said at a rally here. “The issues have so far been hidden conveniently by the UDF and the LDF, which are ruling and looting the State alternatively,” he said, addressing BJP workers at the historic Thekkinkad maidan.
“Only the third force can ensure the kind of development that the people of Kerala deserve. Kerala has already witnessed the rise of the third force,” he said, referring to his party’s healthy showing in the local body polls held last month.
Modi said what prevailed in the State was an atmosphere of erasing political rivals. He said it was poignant that it was in the land of Sree Narayana Guru who battled against untouchability that BJP was for long deemed a political untouchable. Lashing out against the culture of political killings in the State, the PM said Kerala had perhaps the worst track record in the country. Modi hailed the BJP workers of the State as “a model for those from other states, for their hardwork” saying they were probably the most loyal as they worked year after year regardless of the foregone conclusion that there would be no spoils to enjoy. “It was always a question of how the margin of the loss was coming down or whether the performance in a given year was any better than the previous one. However, the tide has turned with the local body elections and the BJP in the State could finally look to reaping the benefit for their long years of hard work,” he said.
Modi, in his address in Hindi, with the translation of BJP State president V Muraleedharan, addressed the concerns of NRIs, youth, rubber farmers, fishermen, Dalits and backward sections. Modi announced that natural rubber would be brought into the ‘Make In India’ fold to ensure remunerative price to farmers.
Meanwhile, the controversy over the decision of the SNDP general secretary Vellappally Natesan to keep Chief Minister Oommen Chandy away from the unveiling of former CM and SNDP leader R Shankar’s statue in Kollam on Tuesday continued.