Dubai: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has criticised the demand that Kerala should withdraw from the PM SHRI scheme, calling it senseless and accusing the party of falling into a political trap.
Speaking at a panel discussion titled ‘Reimagining Kerala’, organised by ‘Kerala Dialogue’ in Dubai, he said Kerala had become a “bad example of excessive politicisation” and urged voters to think about the future generation rather than political symbols.
He noted that he recently faced attack over what he described as a neutral social media post. “A neutral post by me on a speech by the Prime Minister has been attacked as praising the Prime Minister, I didn’t say a single word of praise, I just described the speech………that’s the kind of atmosphere in our country now,” he said.
Supporting the central government and taking a dig at the state government’s policies, Tharoor said. “They were mandate from the nation. I will work with them. If they come up with a scheme and they say, we will only give you the money if you do this….this and that I will discuss with it I will say how I can implement it within the framework of my convictions,” he said.
Criticising the Kerala government’s stance on the PM SHRI scheme, he added: “a scheme was rejected and the money was denied, even though the state is broke and needs the money. There are government schools where roofs are leaking, roofs are collapsing, we don’t have money for desks and blackboards. And we are now acting ideologically pure and refusing money from the canter, that’s crazy, its taxpayers’ money.”
He said the state’s major problem was that everything had been politicised. He said that Kerala is a state where investors commit suicide. We need laws to protect their rights and to prevent frequent shutdown, he added.
According to him, excessive bureaucracy continues to stifle businesses. “It takes an average of 236 days to start a business in Kerala. Seventy-five per cent of government procedures must be removed,” Tharoor said.
Previously, senior Congress leaders have openly questioned why a party MP is repeatedly commending Modi’s leadership at a time when the party is sharply critical of the BJP government, viewing this as Tharoor’s latest remark reinforcing what they see as a pattern of perceived favouritism towards the Modi-led BJP government.