PM should have visited Somalia to compare Kerala: Congress

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress's Kerala unit hit out on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had compared the state to Somalia during the recent poll campaign, telling him that on his current African tour, he should have visited the African country too.

"PM missed an opportunity 2 include Somalia in his Africa trip so that he could know the difference between HDI figures of Kerala & Somalia," tweeted Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala

Modi on his assembly election campaign for the NDA in May early this year said that "the child death ratio among Scheduled Tribes in Kerala is scarier than even Somalia" - provoking protests across the state.

He also cited media reports that said tribal children in Peravoor, another town from the temple town where more than 100 people died in a firework display recently, were seen foraging for food in a garbage dump to make his case that the state had not been properly governed.

Following these comments, there was a huge attack against Modi on social media while the Congress, which was ruling the state then, even approached the Election Commission.