Amit Shah slams LDF, UDF, alleges regimes led by them followed 'appeasement politics'

Thiruvananthapuram | Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday slammed both the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and the opposition Congress-led UDF alleging the regimes steered by them only created corruption, followed appeasement politics and made Kerala a safe haven for "anti-national forces", like the Popular Front of India (PFI).

Addressing party workers here, Shah said only the BJP-led NDA can bring development to the state and not the LDF or the UDF.

'Viksit Bharat' is not possible without the development of strong southern states and the route to 'Viksit Bharat' is only through 'Viksit Keralam,' he said. "Therefore, from now, the basic aim of the BJP will be a Viksit Keralam," he underlined, asserting that without the saffron party there will be no development in Kerala.

In support of his claim, he said the Modi government has dedicated projects, like Vizhinjam port, worth thousands of crores of rupees to the state, connected 11 districts through two Vande Bharat trains and increased the Railway budget for Kerala from Rs 372 crore in the year 2004 to the current Rs 3,700 crore.

He claimed that the Modi government has spent many times more money on Kerala than the past Congress governments and said he will release the detailed figures of the same through the party's state committee office.

The top BJP leader said it was more important for the BJP to ensure that its state office here becomes the "centre of Viksit Keralam" than having a Chief Minister. He also unveiled the logo of the party's Viksit Keralam mission.

During his speech, he hit out at the CPI(M)-headed LDF and the Congress-led UDF alleging their successive governments only created corruption, followed appeasement politics and made Kerala a safe haven for "anti-national forces", like the Popular Front of India (PFI). The union government in 2022 declared PFI, along with its associates and affiliates, as unlawful.

Shah said the Kerala government had all the powers to impose a ban on the PFI and questioned why it did not do so. "When that organisation spread to various other parts of the country, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who took the decision to ban it and ensured that its top leaders were arrested," the Union Home Minister said, addressing a large gathering of party workers and supporters at the ward-level leadership meeting held at the Putharikandam maidan here.

He said the CPI(M) and Congress term the BJP a north-Indian party, but it formed governments in eastern states like Assam and Tripura which were strongholds of opposition parties and similarly, his party will come to power in Tamil Nadu as well.

In Kerala, the BJP-led NDA's vote share has increased since 2014 and it will be fighting the 2026 Assembly polls in the state with the intention of forming a government, he said. He urged the party workers present at the meeting to ensure that the BJP-led NDA gets more than 25 per cent votes in the upcoming local body elections in Kerala.

"If you want true change, vote for the BJP-led NDA. Only it can create Viksit Keralam," he said and urged the party workers to devote their time to strengthening the NDA and making Viksit Keralam a reality.

He further said that while the BJP and CPI(M) were both cadre-based parties, a major difference between them was that the saffron party worked for development of the state and not its cadres. "However, for the CPI(M), development of the cadres comes ahead of the development of the state," he claimed. He further alleged that the track record of the LDF and UDF was that of corrupt governance.

The union minister said that during the LDF rule, there were several financial scandals, like "cooperative bank scam, AI camera scam, Life Mission scam, K-FON scam, PPE-kit scheme and the one that irritates Vijayanji -- the state-sponsored gold smuggling which is the biggest scam in India." He said that the UDF was no less, as during its rule too there were several scams, like Solar scam and Palarivattom scam, but there were no such financial scandals during the Modi government's 11 year administration.

Shah inaugurated the new BJP state committee office, 'Mararji Bhavan', here ahead of the upcoming local body polls later this year and the assembly election next year.

The union home minister, who arrived in Kerala late Friday night, also paid floral tributes to late former BJP state president K G Marar, whose bronze bust has been installed in the central hall of the new building.

He was accompanied by BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and other senior leaders of the party's Kerala unit while he took a tour of the new building.