: Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said here on Sunday that the Congress party had lost its humanitarian face.
Addressing an election campaign meeting at Sulthan Bathery, Ms. Irani said senior Congress leaders had not visited the family of the 29-year-old law student who was brutally raped and murdered at Perumbavoor. Instead, the Congress leaders were engaged in organising protests to save the face of the Gandhi family who were reportedly linked to the tainted VVIP chopper deal, Ms. Irani added. The Union Minister said the NDA government had taken several initiatives in the State such as establishing an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). The government had decided to provide free higher education to students belonging to the poor sections of society in all IITs in the country to ensure higher education to the marginalised section of the people, she said. The government had earmarked Rs. 6 crore for the educational sector in the hill district of Wayanad, and it had taken the initiative to realise the Nanjangud-Nilambur railway project, the Minister said.
She said both the LDF and UDF in the State had no development agenda for the progress of the State. The lives of the marginalised section of people, including tribespeople, were in peril under the successive governments, Ms. Irani said adding that the tribal-friendly policies of the NDA government had attracted leaders like C.K. Janu to join the alliance.
