Thiruvananthapuram: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday praised Kerala’s record on the public health and education front and said the state is a frontrunner in India’s quest to achieve total literacy.

The President’s praise comes just days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slammed Kerala over its public health system. This led to sharp criticism from Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan.

“Kindly correct yourself Shri Adityanath, Kerala's Infant Mortality Rate is 10. National average 34, Uttar Pradesh's 43. Thanks @myogiadityanath for letting every Indian know that Kerala's IMR is not only far better than UP but also many developed countries," the Kerala CM had said.

The BJP and the Left are involved in a bitter war of words in Kerala. The BJP recently held a state-wide padyatra against the government which was attended by national leaders like BJP president Amit Shah and Adityanath.

On Friday, Kovind said the future of the country's economy and employment creation depends heavily on the success the nation achieves with Digital India.

“Kerala has obvious advantage in three sectors — IT,tourism and health care. The people of Kerala across the across socio economic spectrum deserves to be congratulated for creating a hospitality culture. This is a role model for many parts of India,” he said after launching the Kerala government's ambitious Technocity project near Thiruvanathapuram.

He said Kerala's strength in basic literacy and skills and the experience of Kerala people in the service sector and in consumer driven industries make the state natural for an IT ecosystems.

“Without the hard work of our brothers and sisters from Kerala the economies of UAe and other gulf countries would not be the same,” he added.

He also mentioned the service of teachers from Kerala working in rural area of Africa and the service of Kerala nurses working in India and abroad.