Twitter explodes with criticism for Modi on misconstrued remarks.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
The Bharatiya Janata Patry (BJP) is going all-out to win some assembly seats in the upcoming Kerala elections. Though the party has made considerable progress in the state, it will be an uphill task for it to win a few seats in the state assembly.
As the state is gearing up for elections, the campaigning of top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi is creating waves among the party workers. But, a comment made by Modi at a rally in the state has provoked the Malayali community that quickly turned into a campaign on Twitter.
The hashtag #PoMoneModi (Get Lost Modi) has been trending on Twitter from Tuesdayonwards after the Prime Minister compared the infant mortality rate among the Scheduled Tribes (ST) of Kerala with that of Somalia while addressing a political rally.
The hashtag was derived from the famous dialogue ‘Po Mone Dinesha, in Mohanlal-starrer Malayalam movie ‘Narasimham.’ In the film, Mohanlal is angrily asking the villain, to go away.
The hashtag has been trending on Twitter with more than 37,000 tweets.
Many people came up with tweets comparing the Human Development Index (HDI) of Kerala and Gujarat, where Modi ruled for more than 10 years.
Some even compared the HDI of Kerala and Somalia to prove that his claim is wrong. Some of them mocked Modi saying that this was why people were questioning his graduation.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy came down heavily on Narendra Modi on Wednesday saying that the Prime Minister insulted the people of Kerala. He asked Modi to show some “political decency” and demanded him to withdraw the statement.
Chandy said that Kerala has attained considerable growth in the areas of education, health, and economic development and the state is above the national average in terms of these indicators, especially the HDI.
“Yet, you (PM) compared Kerala to Somalia that is reeling under poverty and internal strife. Is it not a shame for the prime minister to pronounce that a state like Somalia exists in the country?” Chandy said in a letter delivered to the media.
“With a great deal of regret, let me point out that they (previous PMs) never attempted anything that brought disrepute to the office of the Prime Minister like you have done,” he said.
The state BJP leadership came to support Modi citing the Prime Minister didn’t mean to disgrace the people of Kerala as he mentioned only about the state of backward castes in Kerala. Citing recent incidents, they alleged that state government was not implementing the projects for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities properly.
“For the benefit of SC/ST brothers, many laws made by the Central government are not being implemented in Kerala. Isn’t this an insult to the state,” BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan told reporters.
“The Chief Minister has raised the issue of the Malayalee pride being hurt now, only with an eye on the May 16 Assembly polls,” Rajasekharan added.
Recently there was a media report from Kannur district where Adivasi children were searching for food at a waste dumping center. Unable to bear hunger, a teen girl had committed suicide in the state recently.