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JP Nadda takes aim at Kerala govt, Rahul Gandhi at virtual rally
JP Nadda claimed that the support for BJP in the state had been growing in the last decade, with its vote share rising from 6% to 16% and its membership growing from 1.1 million to 2.5 million.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda on Sunday launched an attack against the Pinarayi Vijayan government of Kerala, accusing it of corruption and nepotism and messing up data related to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
He also attacked former Congress president and Wayanad MP, Rahul Gandhi, for allegedly holding a secret meeting with the Chinese ambassador during the Doklam military standoff in 2017.
The BJP president, who was addressing a virtual rally after an online inauguration of the party’s district office in Kasargod, said the Kerala government needed to come clean on the recent gold smuggling that led to the transfer of a senior bureaucrat.scandal.
The transfer of M Sivasankar, a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who was also a secretary to chief minister Vijayan, came after opposition parties in the state stepped up pressure following the seizure of 30 kg gold from a diplomatic consignment. A former information technology consultant to the state government is the prime suspect in the case.
“What is the relationship between that IT officer and the personal secretary of the chief minister?We can see the heat in CM’s office also. He wrote to Prime Minister saying no stone should remain unturned as far as the investigation is concerned. We have a saying ‘chor ki daadi mein tinka’, it means the office of CM is also involved somewhere,” the BJP chief said.
“Misappropriation of funds, crimes against women, nepotism in political appointments, political patronage and several other things are prevalent under this Pinarayi government,” he said.
The BJP leader also criticised the Kerala government for its handling of the Covid-19 crisis, He said the CM had made claims that the state is equipped to cater to over 150,000 people, but when the Vande Bharat flights to bring home stranded Indians from abroad were started, the situation turned out to be different.
“They tried to suppress the data. Even when the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said we should increase the tests, the attitude of the state government was negative,” Nadda said.
He went on add, “The Kerala house in Delhi was offered to anti-CAA {Citizenship (Amendment) Act} protestors} but not to the brave Malayali nurses who needed help. I also know that during the crisis, the health data of individuals was compromised. Migrant workers in Wayanad had to stage a protest against the government. There is political patronage to private companies,” the BJP leader said.
Nadda claimed that the support for BJP in the state had been growing in the last decade, with its vote share rising from 6% to 16% and its membership growing from 1.1 million to 2.5 million. He urged the people to shun the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which he said were two sides of the same coin.
“To keep BJP out, the Left and the Congress joined hands at the last moment. If the BJP had not protested against the Sabarimala issue (of allowing women of all ages to visit the shrine), they would have destroyed the faith of people,” he said.
Shifting his attack to Rahul Gandhi, he said, the Wayand MP had not disclosed his meeting with the Chinese ambassador during the Doklam stand-off.
“These days he is asking questions about China and shows desh prem (love for the country), but the people of India know when the Doklam standoff was on he secretly met the Chinese ambassador and did not tell anyone. India got to know only when the Chinese Ambassador broadcast the picture with him online,” he said.
On Sunday, Gandhi again attacked the government over the June 15 clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in eastern Ladakh, alleging that the Chinese have captured Indian territory.
“What happened {was} that China took away the sacred land of Mother India during Modi ji’s tenure?” the former Congress president tweeted on Sunday morning.
The Kerala government brushed aside the BJP president’s criticism. “The whole world is praising the state’s Covid’s management system and we have the lowest mortality rate: records speak. In gold smuggling case we don’t have anything to hide. Our CM was first to call for a central agency probe. People know truth and that is our strength,” said state industry minister E P Jayarajan.
