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Indian PM trolled on Twitter for comparing Kerala state with Somalia

Xinhua, May 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who keeps connected to people through digital media, had a bad day on Twitter Wednesday.

The Prime Minister was trolled on the popular micro-blogging website for comparing the southern Indian state of Kerala with war-ravaged African nation of Somalia in a recent election speech.

Modi had Sunday said at an election rally in the state that the "infant mortality rate among the (underprivileged) scheduled tribe community in Kerala is worse than Somalia."

But the comparison fumed Twitter users who responded with hashtag #PoMoneModi (Go Off Modi) and used memes, cartoons and jokes to vent out their anger.

Kerala's Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has described Modi's remarks as "baseless" and penned a letter to the Prime Minister, seeking an apology from him.

"You made statements that had nothing to do with reality and likened Kerala to Somalia. This is unbecoming of a Prime Minister and has created a great deal of agony," Chandy wrote.

Somalia has one of the world's highest rates of child malnutrition and infant mortality, while Kerala has the lowest infant mortality rates in India.

Political analysts say India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has made Modi the star campaigner in Kerala, which goes to polls on May 16, in its bid to get a foothold in the state.

But the Prime Minister's Somalia statement to woo voters appears to have backfired in the state that has been traditionally ruled by either the Congress party or a coalition of Communist parties. Endit