A tale of two states: Kerala vs TN in their fight against Coronavirus – one dismal while the other robust

What shocked Keralites was the projection of Pinarayi Vijayan as the next Prime Ministerial candidate of India by hardcore CPI-M fanatics.

What shocked Keralites was the projection of Pinarayi Vijayan as the next Prime Ministerial candidate of India by hardcore CPI-M fanatics.
What shocked Keralites was the projection of Pinarayi Vijayan as the next Prime Ministerial candidate of India by hardcore CPI-M fanatics.

Newspapers and Television channels are perpetrating a big fraud on the gullible readers and viewers in India by peddling fake news about Coronavirus and COVID-19. Paid writers masquerading as journalists and columnists who have not visited south of the Vindhyas’ even once in their lifetime are portraying the Southern State of Kerala as a role model which could be emulated by even developed economies. This is a big lie and is written by Public Relations companies hired by the CPI-M-led Pinarayi Vijayan government with the sole intention of projecting the latter as an alternative to PM Narendra Modi at the national level.

The biggest faux pas committed by the Communists in Kerala came out in the open during the last two weeks of March 2020, the initial stages of Coronavirus in the Southern States. Kerala’s Minister of Health KK Shailaja wrote an edit page article in The Hindu on March 23, 2020, titled “How To Handle a Pandemic”.[1]

On Vishu Day, New Year Day of the Malayalees which also falls on April 14, the State of Kerala has 378 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

“Given India’s record on public health, Kerala has been receiving praise for the way it is tackling the emergency. Be it the presence of health infrastructure prerequisites or its experience in handling the Nipah virus, the Kerala government’s preparedness for COVID-19 was relatively stronger than other States. Discussions on how to address it started as early as mid-January. When various countries started confirming cases, Kerala was the first state to draft measures for its containment. The measures became more stringent when the state reported its first case on January 30. Since then, the government has become more vigilant and taken proactive measures to trace people who have had primary and secondary contact with those who tested positive,” wrote Shailaja, a former party glamour girl from Kannur.

It is known to ordinary people in Kerala (except hardcore CPI-M activists) that the minister does not know English and the article was penned down by one of her top bureaucrats. On the day the article appeared in The People’s Daily of Chennai (as The Hindu is addressed in Tamil Nadu because of the owner’s servility to his masters in China) the same daily had reported that Kerala had 67 COVID-19 patients while Tamil Nadu had just nine cases.

This itself was a slap on the face of Kerala Government as Tamil Nadu with four major airports and more than a dozen important railway stations register daily footfalls numbering more than a million. Though Minister of Health C Vijaya Baskar (a doctor by qualification and a known Sasikala Bhakth) is embroiled in a series of corruption allegations, he had never forgotten his primary responsibilities as the Chief Executive Officer of the State’s department of health. Till March 30, Tamil Nadu’s Corona positive patients were below 100. But the influx of the 1800 religious preachers from the state who had converged at Delhi for the congregation of the ‘Angels of Peace’ (as Islam is known all over the world: The Muslims are the angels of peace and Islam itself is the Religion of Peace!) turned everything upside down. The Tablighi Jamaat delegates and leaders who landed in Chennai and elsewhere in the state ensured that the number of persons tested positive for Coronavirus kept on rising and as on April 14, the Tamil New Year Day, Tamil Nadu has 1,173 COVID-19 patients and 11 deaths. On Vishu Day, New Year Day of the Malayalees which also falls on April 14, the State of Kerala has 378 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is no need to search for the reason behind the exponential increase in the number of Coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu.

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Affairs has quoted an Indian Council of Medical Research finding that one Coronavirus patient could potentially infect 406 people in 30 days[2].

Of late, the Tamil Nadu Government decided to banish the term Tabligh Jamaat from the narration and substituted the same with the word single source point to denote that the patients were from Markaz Nizamuddeen, the headquarters of this ‘peaceful, happy angels.’ But that has not helped in bringing down the number of Coronavirus cases in the state. The data provided by the Department of Health and Family Welfare says that 95 percent of the patients tested positive for Coronavirus are either the returnees from the Delhi religious meet or those who came into contact with them.

There are news items from Coimbatore that the police and local citizens have seized trucks laden with hazardous medical waste from Kerala which was to be dumped in Tamil Nadu.

About 50 foreign nationals, mainly from Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh who were preaching and proselytizing in Tamil Nadu have been rounded up during the last ten days on charges of violation of visa norms and guidelines that those who reach India on tourist visas should not engage in religious activities. “We have access to what the Hindu spiritual leaders from foreign countries do in India. But we have no means to know what the Islamic religious preachers tell their devotees. Perhaps they may be exhorting the faithful to fight against the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) law and National Registry of Citizens. We do not have any access to what is happening inside the mosques. The Muslims are devoted to what the preachers tell and would not reveal want went inside the mosques,” a senior Intelligence Wing official told The PGurus.

What has happened is that there are certain columnists who have never bothered to visit Tamil Nadu or Kerala. “But they write that Kerala is advanced in medical and health care than the Scandinavian countries. Needless to tell, these are all PR agents based in New Delhi,” said a senior doctor working with the Department of Health in Kerala.

But in reality, what has happened is that Kerala’s fight against Coronavirus has been dismal till now. While Tamil Nadu was on the alert from day one, screening all passengers arriving at the airports in Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Coimbatore, and all major railway and bus stations across the state, Kerala looked the other way. Many migrants who returned to the state from West Asia managed to escape from the “prying eyes” (if there were any) at the international airport at Kochi. “There were many apartment blocks lying unused in the neighborhood of the airport and the passengers testing positive could have been moved to these buildings with modern amenities. Though the State administration, especially the bureaucrats of the Department of Health were sounded about this possibility, they looked the other way. Hundreds of gulf returnees managed to travel all the way from Kochi to Kasargod because they had a lot to hide from the government,” said a senior government physician in Kochi.

There are reports that many youths who came back to Kerala from West Asia were carrying smuggled gold for some of the jewelry majors in the Northern districts and that is the reason why they gave a slip to the law enforcement agencies. Those who are not familiar with the geographical size and population of Tamil Nadu and Kerala should understand that the former has an area of 1,30, 060 sq km while the latter measures 38, 863 sq km. The population in Tamil Nadu is 6.79 crore (2011) while that of Kerala is 3.34 crore.

Though the Dravidian political parties are ‘notorious’ for the corrupt practices of their leaders, Tamil Nadu’s health sector could be a model for other states. There is no dearth of primary health centers and major hospitals in Tamil Nadu. While Keralites who are dependent on Tamil Nadu for even curry leaves and banana leaves(for their meals), the former always frowns at the “unclean and unhygienic” practices of the Tamilians whom they address as Pandis (to rhyme with the Pandyan kingdom of yore years).

Even as this item is being written, there are news items from Coimbatore that the police and local citizens have seized trucks laden with hazardous medical waste from Kerala which was to be dumped in Tamil Nadu.

The waste war is an extension of the Kerala psyche “not in my courtyard” syndrome and dates back to decades. One can see ‘waste war’ and ‘not in my courtyard’ battles being fought all over Kerala. Domestic waste is packed “beautifully” and the house owner carries it in his limousines and SUVs in the darkness of night to dump the same in alleys far away from their homes! In thoroughfares, arterial roads and ring roads there are banners cautioning people from dumping wastes. “You are being monitored by CCTV cameras”, proclaim these banners. Not to scare away thieves but the self- styled Malayali literates who are credited with staging agitations against a nuclear power plant to be built with Russian assistance in Ernakulam district.

The same Malayalis were at the forefront demanding 500 MW of the 1000 MW power generated at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu. Speaking about claims of Kerala politicians that the state offers world-class medical aid to its citizens, one cannot help laughing at these claims. If the state has medical facilities of global standards, why should the CM and General Secretary of the ruling party fly away to the USA, yes, the same capitalist, imperialistic and hegemonistic force, even for a routine medical check-up? The Health Minister was in the news for getting spectacles worth Rs 29,000 at the expense of the state exchequer. Not to be left out, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly ensured that he got spectacles worth Rs 50,000 at the expense of the state. The Marxists are living up to their catchword: “All are equal but some are more equal”. What shocked Keralites was the projection of Pinarayi Vijayan as the next Prime Ministerial candidate of India by hardcore CPI-M fanatics. There were social media postings by Pinarayi Bhakts pleading with the people of Kerala to allow Pinarayi Vijayan to contest as a candidate in the next presidential election in the US!

References:

[1] How to handle a pandemicMar 23, 2020, The Hindu

[2] ICMR study suggests 1 covid patient can infect 406 people in 30 days in absence of self-isolation: GovtApr 07, 2020, Indiatimes

We are a team of focused individuals with expertise in at least one of the following fields viz. Journalism, Technology, Economics, Politics, Sports & Business. We are factual, accurate and unbiased.
Team PGurus

19 COMMENTS

  1. Looks like the author or authors must have faced some bad experience from Kerla in the past and took this opportunity to show case kerla in the most ugly way. Many incidents which are not related to corona are quoted for this purpose such as Kudankulam Nuclear.

  2. I read till the last line: We are factual, accurate and unbiased.
    — In my opinion, its not you, but others have to say this. Anyone who reads this report may doubt about all these , especially about unbiased.
    I also read the comment written by other people.

      • KK Shailaja honoured by the United Nations for the exemplary work on COVID-19. On Twitter, many of her admirers congratulated her calling the Kerala minister the “new face of India”

        Sorry pGurus -> May be a bad news for you.

        • As per pGuru

          Shailaja, a former party glamour girl ….. does not know English ”

          This is not facts. this is personal insult. Btw, if she does not know english, how she can attend the un webinar ?

  3. Like your statement – All Newspapers and Television channels except pGurus are perpetrating a big fraud by peddling fake news 🙂 🙂 🙂

  4. Thanks PGurus for your praise. But are we really doing good in this aspects ? At least many of us living here do not believe so. Our govt has taken it very lightly in the beginning and where are we standing now.

  5. This is how media can turn facts to 180 degree and glorify a state who has failed miserably. Looks like a paid article by the illiterate CM of TN. Living in this horrible state by last couple of years and seriously thinking to be relocated to somewhere else.

  6. A report to spread hatred and jealousy. Readers are not only reading this report, they are seeing the reports from other media as well. What are you trying to prove ?

  7. PM Modi told Keralas is worst than Somalia, Yogi told Kerala has to learn from UP on running hospitals – if people believe this, they will believe your article as well. I have visted kerala soon after the big flood in 2018 and have seen how effectively the govt function to recover the big disaster it faced – even without much help from cental govt.

  8. Whoever has written this exposed their lack of knowledge . For example, Kerala health minister Shailaja is a retired high school teacher and knows English very well. You can see her interviews in various channel including BBC. May be you mean our CM Palaniswami.

  9. Every state have it’s own pros and cons and please try to accept that. Now Kerala is already winning the War against corona and TN is struggling with staggering numbers. Do you think the you have celeberated a little early?

  10. Fakes and frauds! Is that all which characteristics Kerala? And Tamil Nadu is a big joke after the passing away of Ms Jayalalithaa. Oh. sorry. sorry. TN is the new home of “The Peoples Daily” isn’t it? Ohlet’s shed tears for what India is coming to.

  11. The states can’t be compared. Please check the industrialization, agriculture, employment, healthcare, infrastructure, economy etc. Tamilnadu is at the top of the grid and Kerala is at the bottom. How easy it is to manage a state where nothing is happening!
    Also it would be good to do an on the ground investigation on what is happening in Kasargod.

  12. I feel, this article written countering long standing ego battle between TN and Kerala, but as neutral person i point out both as follows. it is secular, anti national approach of TN leaders giving them back dividend, it is because of appeasement approach and not touching community for any illegal or anti national acts. gathering in chennai is not lees then markaz nizamuddeen. any right approaching nationalistic govt act against those people with NSA act. even after so much covid still they blame outsiders and protect insiders. coming to Kerala it is not grate because of govt action, it is hotbed for jihadi and terrorist. also more then 50-60% muslim area why they damage their well built infrastructure. for all these govt supporting them, so it is give back time for them, so they given credit to govt. no wonder in it. one more difference is in TN some BJP underwater support exist from upward hindu community and present govt. so they want to target them with jihadi model.

  13. Almost the north Kerala is muslim dominated. How come they have very low participation in the Tablique conference. Also when the airports are manned by CISF and central Govt staff how is it possible to smuggle Gold. These are my my doubts.

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