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

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 pandemic – Mar 23, 2020, The Hindu

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