Amit Shah accuses LDF, UDF of appeasement and shielding PFI in Kerala

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.

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, 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.

Shah further said that while the BJP and CPI(M) were both cadre-based parties, a major difference between them was 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 said that the BJP formed governments in many states, like Assam and Tripura, which were strongholds of opposition parties and similarly, his party will come to power in Tamil Nadu as well. The BJP-led NDA will be fighting the 2026 Assembly polls in Kerala with the intention of forming a government in the state, he said.

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.