HUMANITY First – Kerala Will Rise Above Hate-mongers!

Monsoons have always been eagerly awaited in India, since the Indian Monsoon plays a major role in turning large parts of India from semi-deserts to green lands. It is a symbol of joy and celebration, especially amongst farmers. They wait patiently throughout the year, just for the monsoons to arrive and help them grow crops at their best. Who could fathom that this joy would be diminished in India this year?

Little did we know that this year, the same Monsoons would wreak havoc in God’s own country – Kerala.

Around August 10-11, I noticed Twitter trends highlighting about Kerala floods, which had reached alarming levels. Several parts of Kerala were reeling under nature’s wrath and countless lives had already been lost in the floods. I decided to check out the news channels for more updates. But, to my utter dismay, I hardly found any substantial information about the floods from the leading news channels of the country. Sadly, the fact still remains that the national media was quite late in reporting about this natural disaster. This made me ponder more on Mr. Shashi Tharoor’s tweet on Kerala floods. Is he actually right when he tweeted that the distance from Delhi defines how important the gravity of any situation is considered in India?

The flood situation here in Kerala is really bad. The national media coverage has been grossly inadequate compared to the gravity of the situation here. It is a sad reflection of the truism that the farther you are from Delhi, the less you matter in today's India. pic.twitter.com/bohOK9jpda

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 15, 2018

Soon enough, I could access news about the Kerala floods, sitting miles away from the state. Houses were flooded, people were displaced from their homes to shelter camps and thousands of people were either injured or reported missing, as rescue operations were conducted by the National Disaster Relief Forces and Armed Forces. The plight of the people, living in Kerala, was  heart-wrenching. It took a while before I could gather myself to start looking for options for contributing my bit. To my horror, I came across a fresh array of malicious comments, in the garb of religion and culture, against helping the people in distress in Kerala.

Several campaigns starting doing rounds on Twitter, which asked people NOT to contribute to the CM’s relief fund. People were specifically being urged NOT to pray for people trapped in Kerala, because apparently, Kerala was the ‘land of beef eaters’ and the people in Kerala deserved the wrath of nature. I was shocked, to say the least!

Let’s never forget humanity

Are these hate-mongers actually my countrymen? We, as true Indians, have always been empathetic and compassionate. So, who are these hate-mongers then? Why are they addressing themselves as the torch-bearers of India? Have people lost their basic humanity? What can make these people believe that distressed people in the floods actually ‘deserved to die’? Why are these hearts filled with so much hatred, that they have almost forgotten the basics of humanity? These people are definitely NOT true Indians. These hate-mongers are the real ANTI-NATIONALS.

I represent the common man of this beautiful country, and I DON’T believe that people deserve to die, because they’re beef-eaters! People around me, DON’T agree with this either.

Something is going terribly wrong, in the basic setup of my country. Before these hate-mongers become cancerous for the country, we should put a check on them. We can do what’s best for these negative people in the country – IGNORE! Yes, let’s wake up to the reality and beat their sole purpose. Stop sharing or listening to such baseless hate-mongers. Their whole purpose of discriminating and dividing the nation, will be defeated as a whole then.

The irony is while the national media was busy covering ex-PM Vajpayee’s demise, Kerala actually wept its heart out. I’m sure that even the revered leader, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, would have been deeply disturbed by the apathy towards the victims of Kerala floods. The Rs 100 crores, with the additional Rs 500 crores from the Centre is definitely falling short, considering the scale of destruction in the floods. There were even ongoing debates on how our armed forces (one of the most effective in the world) could not deploy enough forces to airlift trapped people, due to political differences and baseless ego.

Amidst the cacophony of this natural disaster, the differences between the Central and the State government should not come in the way of saving lives in Kerala. The floods might have subsided now, but there’s still a herculean task ahead of us – Rehabilitation of Kerala.

Let’s keep up the momentum of relief efforts and rescue operations in Kerala. Our voice will definitely create a difference. Let’s talk more about the calamity and share the message on social media to push for greater support from people all over the country.

Let’s set an example for humanity. Let’s show what Indians are all about.

Here is a list of few handy official links, where you can make a contribution to the cause of relief operations in Kerala :

• Donation Portal : Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF)

• Apple Users can directly make a donation on iTunes.

• Google is providing a direct option to donate for Kerala floods. You can simply type in “Kerala Floods Donation” in Google Search to get the option to donate.

• You can contribute on Milaap – one of the biggest fundraiser for Kerala Floods.

• You can make donations at Ketto – a trusted crowdfunding website in India.
• Donate online to CM’s Relief fund via ICICI Online Banking.