Thiruvananthapuram In the final hours of the Lok Sabha election campaign in Kerala, the front-runner to become India’s next prime minister launched a high-intensity attack on the state’s ruling United Democratic Front and opposition Left Democratic Front, and called the state a “nursery for terrorism”.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi’s all-out attack was not entirely unexpected in the state, where traditional rivals UDF and LDF have monopolised Lok Sabha seats and the BJP is yet to open its account.

Modi’s comments came at a campaign rally for BJP candidate in Kasaragod, K. Surendran.

Mincing no words at what he thought of the leadership in the state, Modi said “Kerala ought to be a tourist destination, but it has turned into a nursery for terrorism”.

His comments come a few days after Waqas Ahmad, a suspected Indian Muhajideen operator who had stayed in Munnar under cover, was brought back to Munnar from Delhi by security forces for investigation purpose.

Not letting up on his criticism of the Congress rule in Kerala, Modi said the state figured in the list of top 10 states in India that were unsafe for women, adding that six of these states were ruled by Congress and none by a BJP government.

Modi also hit out at the manner in which the state and federal governments have acted in the case of two Italian marines accused of shooting to death two Kerala fishermen off the Kollam coast in 2012. Stating that there was apathy by the state and federal governments in bringing them to book, Modi asked, “In which jail are the Italian marines kept?”

The Gujarat chief minister reserved his severest criticism for federal defence minister A.K. Antony, stating that Antony “would not move his little finger to ensure voting rights for non-resident Keralites”, and that the defence minister had made statements in Parliament that actually went in favour of Pakistan even as Pakistan was infiltrating the borders.

Modi alleged that 95 per cent of weapons of the Indian armed forces were outdated, asking “Does the federal defence minister who is supposed to protect the nation know this?”

Modi said Antony should explain why the Indian navy chief had quit, how the naval forces would defend the vast sea borders of the country and why air force planes were crashing.

Making it clear that his criticism was directed equally at the LDF as well, Modi said what was happening in Kerala was a “friendly contest” between the UDF and the LDF and that it was time to put an end to it.

In Kasaragod, BJP’s K. Surendran is contesting against sitting MP, P. Karunakaran of the CPM and Congressman T. Siddique.