The 36-day-long Navakerala Sadas, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s mass outreach programme which traversed the entire stretch of the State, concluded in Vattiyurkavu on Saturday evening, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan highlighting the massive public participation in all constituencies as a message to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government to correct its stance towards Kerala.
Mr. Vijayan laid stress on the fact that the entire yatra was aimed at highlighting the issues plaguing the State owing to the Union government’s policies which are affecting Kerala’s progress at various levels. He said that Kerala had been denied as much as ₹1.075 lakh crore in Central allocation over the past seven years, thus hampering many ambitious projects as well as day-to-day functioning.
“We embarked on this yatra to convey to the people these attempts to economically strangulate Kerala. Money that is owed to the State is being denied to us. How will we work for the State’s future in such a scenario? Over the past 36 days from Manjeswaram to Vattiyurkavu, we have seen that the people have fully understood this message and are standing with us in this fight,” said Mr. Vijayan.
He spoke at length on the various developmental projects the State has taken up, with funds supposed to come from its own coffers. Among the projects he mentioned were the Digital Science Park, the Kochi-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, hill and coastal highways, GIFT city and various projects in the higher education sector.
“These are projects which will give a fillip to the country’s development. All these are now sought to be hampered. Are these projects meant for any particular political front? The Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) have failed to stand unitedly with us for a common cause, despite repeated requests from our side. They also made attempts to shift the yatra’s focus by unleashing violence. But, now that the people have taken up the message of the yatra, no force can stop us,” he said.
Vattiyurkavu MLA V.K. Prasanth, who presided over the function, spoke about the developmental activities in the constituency, including the progress in the Vattiyurkavu junction development project. Though the Navakerala Sadas formally concluded on Saturday, the programmes for four constituencies which were postponed following the passing away of Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Kanam Rajendran earlier this month, will be held on January 1 and 2.
