CPI general secretary D. Raja on Thursday credited the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for bucking a national trend of falling development indices in Kerala and creating a better growth alternative than others in the country.
He was inaugurating an LDF convention to drum up support for its Nedumangad constituency candidate G.R. Anil in Vembayam. Addressing a sizeable gathering in Tamil, Mr. Raja said the people of the State enjoyed high standards of living than in many other parts of the country.
“On the other hand, the country is ranked below many of its neighbouring countries in terms of human development index, hunger index, happiness index and other indicators of progress,” he said.
Pointing out that the upcoming elections were crucial for the country, Mr. Raja appealed to the voters to ensure that it marked the “beginning of the BJP’s defeat at the Centre”, which has been hell-bent on replacing the country into a theocratic state.
Slams PM
He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of duping the country with hollow promises. While Mr. Modi had failed to honour his assurance of generating two crores of job opportunities every year, unemployment has also slipped to a five-decade low.
The CPI leader added that the Centre worked for the interests of crony capitalists alone, while ignoring the demands of the farming community, which has been on a path of agitation.
Incumbent Nedumangad MLA C. Divakaran, CPI (M) district secretary Anavoor Nagappan and CPI district secretary Mangode Radhakrishnan were among those who participated in the convention.
