Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, in Kochi on Monday as Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy looks on. — PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, in Kochi on Monday as Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy looks on. — PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday started his two-day visit to the state with a speech that promised steps to boost its economy, taunted its history of political violence and exuding optimism about the prospects of a third front that his party, the BJP, is heading here.
Speaking at a public meet organised by the BJP which saw the participation of tens of thousands of BJP supporters who packed the Thekkinkkad Maidan here, the Prime Minister sought to allay fears on the plummeting price of rubber and said rubber-based industries will be included in the Make in India project to ensure remunerative price for farmers. The government has also decided to raise the import duty on rubber, he said. Mr Modi said the government has instructed banks to ensure that all needy students get educational loans.
Exuding confidence that the people in Kerala have made up their mind to effect a political change, Mr Modi said the third front that has emerged in the state will act like the third eye of Shiva to eradicate the “five-decade-long corrupt governance of LDF and UDF”. Taking a swipe at the two fronts, Mr Modi said renaissance leaders such as Sree Narayana Guru worked for the eradication of untouchability but “political untouchability still prevails in the state and the BJP is a victim of it”. There are instances where political opponents have been physically eliminated, a practice one can see in no other part of the country, Mr Modi said. He said BJP workers have been working hard though electoral victory and power had been a distant dream for them. “The people are now waiting to reward them, and the trends in the recently-held elections are an indication of it,” he said.
Mr Modi, who dedicated a major portion of his speech to spell out the achievements of the last 19 months after he assumed office, said that in the last one year the FDI had in India came up by 40 per cent.
“In the same duration, the index of industrial production grew from 2.7 per cent to 9.08, whereas in the manufacturing sector, the index came up from -5.6 per cent to 10.6,” PM noted.
He also assured the fishermen community in Kerala that a new committee had been constituted for addressing their issues and to change their lives for better by modernising the fishing industry.
Earlier in the day, Governor P Sathasivam, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Ports Minister K Babu and Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson received Mr Modi, who is on his maiden visit to Kerala after assuming the Prime Minister’s post, at the Naval airport in Kochi. The Prime Minister reached Thrissur in a helicopter and later returned to Kochi in a car.
