BJP can take credit when India becomes free of extreme poverty, says Kerala minister

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 31 (IANS) Kerala Minister for Local Self-Governments, M.B. Rajesh, on Friday hit out at the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit for crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping the state become the first in the country to eradicate extreme poverty.

"Some are claiming credit should go to Prime Minister Modi. They can take credit when India as a whole becomes free of extreme poverty," Rajesh said.

He said this while defending Kerala's move to declare itself the first state in India to eradicate extreme poverty.

Incidentally, on Saturday, the formal announcement will be made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and flanking him would be legendary superstars -- Mammootty, Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan.

The Kerala BJP leaders have been saying that if not for PM Modi this would not have been accomplished in Kerala and Minister Rajesh took a jibe at this statement.

Minister Rajesh rejected criticism that the decision was rushed or politically driven.

"This is not something decided overnight. It was part of the very first Cabinet meeting of this government. A detailed set of guidelines was published, and if one had read them, there would have been no room for confusion," he said.

Minister Rajesh clarified that the declaration does not mean Kerala has completely eradicated poverty but that it has eliminated extreme poverty as defined by the government.

"Those included in the list are people who have never received the benefits of any government welfare scheme so far. The claim is not that poverty itself has been wiped out," he said.

He also asked why experts who now criticise the process did not raise concerns earlier.

"Had such issues been pointed out earlier, we would have addressed them," Minister Rajesh said, adding that the project was conducted transparently and not in secrecy.

Even as the state prepares for the official announcement on Saturday which is the Kerala Formation Day, criticism has surfaced from the grassroots.

In places like Vattachira Paniya Colony in Kozhikode district, several families continue to live in severe hardship and a few experts working in this area also had highlighted that all what glitters is not gold.

--IANS

sg/khz