Thiruvananthapuram: Campaigning for the Kerala assembly poll, which was slow on the offtake and then derailed by the shock news of the ghastly rape and murder of a law student, gathered steam on Friday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the state and other top leaders started addressing poll rallies.
At Modi’s first campaign meeting in Palakkad, the announcer said while welcoming the PM, “Welcome to God’s own country, which has been ruled by devils for the last 60 years”.
When he spoke, Modi continued in the same vein: “In Kerala, the Congress and Communists have been ruling alternately every five years. They are helping each other. They tell one another, you loot for five years, then the next five years are mine to loot”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) high-velocity campaign for the final round was kicked off in Kollam on Friday by federal home minister, Rajnath Singh. Addressing an election rally at Chathannur in Kollam district, Singh said, “Kerala’s mothers and sisters are not safe”, and fired a direct criticism at Communist Party of India Marxist veteran, V.S. Achuthanandan.
“Achuthanandan had said in 2006 that if his party was elected, he would disclose the names of the VIPs involved in the infamous Kaviyoor and Kiliroor rape cases and get them punished”, Singh said, adding that if the BJP was elected he could “assure” that criminals would be punished.
Singh said if the Kerala government sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into any case, the federal government would be happy to cooperate.
BJP president Amit Shah is already in Kerala to manage the party’s campaign. The BJP has never won a seat in the Kerala assembly, but rumours abound that this time will be different.
BJP’s prospects were initially scoffed at the by traditional fronts, the United Democratic Front and Left Democratic Front, but its surge in popularity over the past few weeks is a worrying trend for both parties.
Over the next week national leaders of all parties are expected to be in Kerala for the campaign including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary, Sitaram Yechury.
Until the election dates were declared, the key points of debate were the solar power scam, the liquor bar bribery scam and alleged corruption against the chief minister, Oommen Chandy, and several ministers.
Over the past fortnight, however, the focus has shifted to the water shortage in different places and the law and order situation, particularly after the rape and murder of law student Jisha.