Hitting back at the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who during his recent Kerala visit had criticised the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) led Kerala Government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that "No one should think that the people of Kerala can be deceived if they come up with planned lies as the elections approach."
Addressing a press meet here on Thursday, Vijayan said, "Adityanath came to Kerala the other day and said that Kerala was lagging behind in everything and there was total chaos here. One of his findings is that this is a land of corruption and anarchy. I want to remind him in 2019, Kerala was the least corrupt state in the Corruption Survey conducted by the Center for Media Studies. Instead, Shyamprakash, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA himself said that UP has the highest level of corruption in the country in July 2020. In January 2021, Uttar Pradesh (UP) Power Minister Srikanth Sharma said that his department was the most corrupt,"
Further, he said, "His other finding is that young people in Kerala are leaving the country without getting a job. Educated youth in Kerala are looking for jobs all over the world because they have the ability to work anywhere in the world. About 15 per cent of the guest workers in Kerala are from Uttar Pradesh. They have the best facilities in Kerala including insurance cover. Ask them and they will make him understand better about Kerala."
"Another remark by the UP Chief Minister was that the government was trying to divide the people. This is a state where no communal riots have taken place in the last five years. People here hold secular values. But what is the situation in UP? The media itself has reported on how many communal riots and hate activities are taking place there. UP has the highest number of murders in the country," alleged Vijayan.
Giving figures of UP, Vijayan said, "According to a 2017 report by the National Crime Records Bureau, there were 4,324 murders in UP. Recently, eight policemen, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, were killed in a goonda attack. How many encounter murders are going on there? UP has the highest crime rate against women. According to a 2019 report, violence against women in UP has increased drastically in the last four years by 66.7 per cent."
Regarding the UP Chief Minister's remark that the world is laughing at Kerala for its poor COVID-19 management, Vijayan said, "There are 3.5 crore people in Kerala and population of UP is 20.5 crore, which is six times the population of Kerala. The COVID tests in Kerala have already passed 1,10,00,000. In UP, which has a population six times larger than Kerala, it is estimated that only about 3 crore tests have been conducted. The test per million rates in Kerala is double that of UP."
Kerala Chief Minister further said that Kerala is a model for controlling mortality in the country.
"UP is also lagging behind in preventing COVID deaths. Kerala is a model for the country in controlling mortality," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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