india

Updated: Dec 14, 2018 21:37 IST

Prime Minister Narenda Modi on Friday said his party, BJP, was forced to call a shutdown in Kerala in light of an “unfortunate incident” and appealed to workers not to resort to any extreme steps in the face of provocations.

Without mentioning the immolation incident that claimed the life of 49-year-old Venugopalan Nair, a Lord Ayyappa devotee, in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, Modi said such incidents were unfortunate and workers should take lead to convince such people.

The PM’s remarks came at a time when the party was observing a shutdown in the state protesting the self-immolation.

Interacting with party workers of five parliamentary constituencies of Kerala, he asked them to convince people who are easily prevailed over provocations and lead them to right direction.

“Lives are priceless. We should face issues and problems logically and try to sort them out. Extreme steps won’t do any good to anyone. It is the duty of workers to convince such people and lead them to right path,” he said.

He asked party functionaries to work hard ensure people’s voices were heard. After the poll debacle in five states the PM is interacting with party workers for the first time.

He criticised both ruling Left Front and Congress and asked BJP party functionaries to help take the central government plans to common man.

“In Kerala there are two models of government — Communist and Congress models. Both are models of inefficiency and corruption,” he said while talking about the stagnant bipolar politics of the state.

He also criticised the recurring political violence in Kerala. “Workers from Kerala really inspire me. They stand strongly with the people even if it means withstanding the brutality of violence. Our workers have done great sacrifices for believing in the ideology what they feel is right,” he said, adding committed workers were the biggest asset of the party.