Terrorism protected in Kerala during Cong, Left rule: Amit Shah

Alappuzha: Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday attacked the Congress and the ruling Left in Kerala, accusing them of protecting terrorism in the state and taking the support of a banned organisation, Popular Front of India, to win in the Lok Sabha polls.

Shah alleged that during the rule of the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF in Kerala over the years, terrorism was protected in the state.

He further alleged that to garner favour from minority vote-banks in the state, both the Left and the Congress worked to support the PFI.

Presently, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), political wing of PFI, has openly proclaimed its support for the Congress-led UDF in Kerala and the LDF was silent on the ban on PFI, the senior BJP leader alleged.

Shah further claimed that the Congress also enjoys the support of the Welfare Party of India -- a political outfit backed by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind -- while the Left has the backing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which is led by Abdul Nazer Mahdani -- an accused in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case.

"On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working to protect the country from organisations like the PFI," he said at a poll rally in Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency while seeking votes for BJP's candidate Sobha Surendran.

Referring to the 2021 killing of BJP's OBC Morcha leader Ranjith Sreenivasan in his house and other party workers, he alleged these killings were carried out by terrorist groups, like the PFI.

Shah said that as long as the Modi government was in power, the PFI would remain banned and would not be allowed to operate anywhere in the country.

He also attacked the Left over the poll promise in its manifesto to dismantle all nuclear weapons in the country, contending that the LDF does not want India to be an atomic power.

"India will remain an atomic power and there will be no meddling with its national security," he asserted.

Shah also raked up the multi-crore Karuvannur Cooperative bank scam to attack the Left.

He said that the scam was an attack on the cooperative sector by the Left and assured that Modi was working to ensure all depositors get their money back and those responsible are punished.

The BJP leader accused the Congress of being silent on such scams and other graft allegations against the CPI(M) and the Kerala CM.

Shah also attacked the Congress and the Left, alleging that they both pretend to be fighting each other in Kerala and West Bengal, while in other parts of the country they are together.

He claimed that Communists were finished in the world and in India and similarly, the Congress too was seeing a decline in the country.

"This is the time of the BJP," he contended.

The senior BJP leader said the Lok Sabha polls this time were to make Modi the PM for a third time and to free Kerala from violence.

"Only Modi can protect Kerala and India. Only he can ensure development in Kerala and India," he claimed.

Shah also claimed that all surveys indicated that the whole of Kerala was with Modi.

He highlighted various poll promises, like schemes for fishermen and farmers and health benefits for the public, made in the BJP manifesto.

Shah also promised that if Modi became PM for a third time, a special package will be brought for the development of the coir industry in Kerala.

The BJP leader was in Kerala on the last day of public canvassing before the state goes to the polls on April 26.

He arrived on a chopper at the helipad at Alappuzha Recreation Ground from where he travelled by road to the Punnapra Carmel Ground -- the venue of the public meeting.