Kottayam/Kollam:
Taking on the Left on its turf, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today accused it of doing great damage to West Bengal and Kerala during its rule and garbing in political opportunism in ideology.
"Our Left friends are on the wrong side of the history. They fail to recognise the very fundamental ways the world we live in has changed, and is changing," Singh told campaign meetings of the Congress-led UDF in Kottayam and Kollam.
The Left parties had not only remained "on the wrong side of history" but had sought to "garb in ideology their political opportunism", he said as he launched a frontal attack on the CPI-M-led LDF government.
"Everyone knows how much damage the Left Front had done during 30 years of its rule in West Bengal. It was due to their faulty programmes that your state (Kerala) could not progress as it could have and should have," he said.
"It is unfortunate that the Left Front refuses to change with time. The result is that they pursue policies and programmes that are not relevant to times," Singh charged.
"When I came during the Lok Sabha polls in 2009 I said that our Left friends are on the wrong side of history. I reiterate that," he said in his first campaign meeting for the April 13 Kerala Assembly polls at Kottayam.
While interests of the common man were neglected under the Left rule, CPI-M party workers gained at the cost of ordinary people, Singh said.
If central schemes like rural employment guarantee programme failed to benefit Kerala fully, it was due to the "indifference" of the LDF government, he said.
Appealing to voters to bring UDF to power on the strength of what his government had done these seven years, Singh said Kerala needed a government that would work hand-in-hand with the Centre to ensure rapid development of the state.
"LDF lives in the past. On the other hand, the UDF stands to safeguard the future of Kerala. We need to reverse the present state. We need to build a climate that attracts investment and creates more jobs, especially for youth," he said.
Despite the global financial crisis, the country had been able to maintain high growth rate under the UPA government without diluting the concerns of the disadvantaged sections of the society to ensure inclusive growth, Singh said.