Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has warned against some ‘deliberate moves from certain quarters in recent times; against the State’s time-tested secular values.
“Ours is a State which has never tried to dilute or adulterate our secular values and our confidence about the secular values that the State has always upheld come from this. However, it is a fact that some dissonant voices are being heard from here and there against this. There have been some deliberate moves in this direction from certain quarters in recent times. One could not help saying that these are most unfortunate events. I am confident that if they do not correct themselves, the people will correct them,” the Chief Minister said while addressing the Republic Day parade at the Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
Mr. Chandy, who had the rare opportunity to take the salute and inspect the Republic Day parade in the State capital, asserted that there was no question of his government wavering even an in inch from its commitment to preserve the principle of secularism and to protect the people and the State.
Kerala’s famous achievements in the spheres of health and education and the major strides made by the State with the ‘Kerala Model’ of development had all figured in discussions within and outside the country, but he was personally not certain whether the secular values upheld by the State had received the same amount of attention, the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Chandy became the first-ever Chief Minister to receive the salute at the Republic Day parade in the State capital as Karnataka Governor H. R. Bhardwaj, who holds additional charge of Kerala because of Kerala Governor M. O. H. Farook’s indisposition, could not be present in the State for the ceremonial occasion. As Karnataka Governor, Mr. Bhardwaj had to receive the salute and inspect the parade at Bangalore.
The Kerala Chief Minister used the occasion not only to send a strong message on secularism but also to assure the State about his government’s desire to take the State to the next level of development and to allay the fears of people living in the shadow of Mullaperiyar dam in the five central and southern districts of Kerala. The government was going ahead with firm measures to ensure their safety even as it strove to provide water to Tamil Nadu, he said and added that the State desired a long-term negotiated settlement with Tamil Nadu based on the principle of friendship.
The government, he said, hoped that the Rs.1.05 lakh crore 12th Five Year Plan would take Kerala miles ahead on the path of development. He was also confident that the Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram high speed railway corridor, the Kochi-Coimbatore industrial corridor, the mono rail projects in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, the Vizhinjam International Container Trans-shipment Terminal Project, the Kannur airport, the four-laning of National Highways and the National Waterway Project would all prepare the State for a quantum jump in infrastructure development. Even while doing so, the government would pay similar attention to the poor and the indigent, Mr. Chandy said.
