At the outset, it must be said that Kerala suffered grievous physical and financial damage in the massive floods that ripped the state apart this month. Lakhs were left homeless, properties worth thousands of crore were possibly destroyed and the ecological damage wrought by years, decades of sloth, avarice and greed were brought to the fore by a savage display of nature’s fury.

While the heroism of the armed forces, ordinary Kerala citizens and fishermen and hundreds of Indians across the country should be commended and applauded, the attitude of the Marxist Kerala government and a section of its politically active citizenry has left a very bitter taste in the mouth. One can understand polarisation, partisanship and anger at being left defenceless against flood fury but not the petty mindedness, the insults, the shameless display of regional chauvinism and the desperate attempts by a party to cover its ineptitude by blaming the centre and the entire country for their woes.

I have no beef with the ordinary Keralites, many of whom stoically braved the calamity and were only focused on saving themselves and their loved ones. I also have no quarrel with those who were only focused helping others and had no time for the petty issues raked by their brethren for partisan political ends.

But I do have a big issue with the Marxist state government headed by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet including finance minister Thomas Issac, his party activists, hundreds of language fanatics, both within and outside the state, and assorted collection of intellectuals, thuggish journalists, historians who gleefully played the tragedy for partisan political ends.

People across the country were shocked by the hatred displayed by some Keralites and their political masters towards north Indians. People across the country were aghast at the badgering that the entire country was subjected by a section of Keralites whose only purpose seemed to be to put everybody else on the defensive. These people seemed to assume that north Indians and the rest of the country don’t care about Kerala and that the only way to make them respond is to abuse and berate them for allegedly watching from the sidelines.

This has already done a lot of damage to Kerala’s reputation but the worst is probably yet to come. The behaviour of Kerala government and those of its intellectuals and party cadres is going to do lasting damage to the nation’s response to any future calamities. What stops any other opposition state from raising similar type of demands and play partisan politics if they think it is going to get them substantial attention and money? What stops section of people in these states from indulging in naked chauvinism and call for separate country? Indeed! What stops them from badgering Keralites about the need for helping others given that the rest of the country has stepped into help massively! Instead of focusing on priorities like rescuing people and giving shelter, we are going to see more hate towards ethnic and linguistic groups and regional chauvinism.

Social media posts have been doing the rounds about how Kerala did not contribute to the Uttarakhand floods in 2013 but contributed to the Pakistan floods in 2010. I don’t know whether this is true. May be, Kerala did contribute to Uttarakhand floods but the figures are probably not available. Whatever it is, people from other states affected by natural calamity are now more likely to follow Kerala’s example by badgering and hounding the rest of the country into donating and giving aid. Can you imagine how the national conversation is likely to unfold when that happens? People of Assam, Odisha, Bihar affected by floods or cyclones can now turn around, point fingers at Kerala and demand equal donation in aid in exchange for whatever was contributed by them in 2018. They will also compare and contrast their efforts with what Kerala is giving along with caustic comments if necessary. Mark my words, the national conversation is going to get ugly and Kerala government and a section of its polity and intellectuals are to solely blame for this. The problem is not in asking for aid. It is in how you ask and how you behave when that aid is being given. Kerala behaved like a truculent child lashing out at everybody and spurred by baseless fears of being abandoned. The rest of the country responded in an over-the-top manner with very public displays of support with many celebrities and politicians indulging in a shameful display of virtue signalling!

Let me recount here what happened last week and the hate that spewed from God’s own country. One Twitter user cited the example of Royal Oman Air Force which was supposed to be transporting food water and aid and said that the tiny Oman was doing more than the central government. The same user asked whether this was because Kerala was not a BJP-ruled state. Another issued a sarcastic invitation to PM Narendra Modi and asked whether the PM would be be visiting the state. He then said that the state is called Kerala and not Karela as if the PMO and Mr Modi dont know the difference between the two! The same guy kept a record of donations made by different states and asked why southern and non-BJP ruled states have contributed more. He obviously had no answer when other states started chipping in with bigger amounts. A journalist wondered whether PMO was figuring out whether his own people deserve funds when foreign governments were helping everybody. She obviously thought that the Indian armed forces’ tireless work in rescuing people was less than a vague offer from the desert nation of UAE.

This was not all. A writer wrote a long opinion piece about whether it was time for southern states to form a separate country or a federation called the United States of Southern India. Where she got the idea that other southern states would be willing to join in this madcap idea, nobody knows. But she used bogus data which was called out by Twitter user Rohit Pradhan who roundly demolished the belief that Kerala gets only 25 paise for every rupee it contributes while Uttar Pradesh receives Rs 1.79. The correct answer is that Kerala gets 2.5% of every rupee, while UP gets 17.9%, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand get 3%. The story with false data received wide attention and was widely quoted by a leading journalist and an eminent historian.

The worst behaviour was from the Kerala government headed by Mr Vijayan. While the chief minister was gracious enough to acknowledge the help of the centre and the PM, it was not before some caustic comments about the lack of help from the centre. The funny part is that neither Mr Vijayan, nor his cabinet members realised that the centre’s help, in the form of the armed forces search and rescue efforts, was already evident in Kerala.

Thomas Issac, the state finance kept insisting that as late as Thursday night that the centre should allow the state to receive Rs 700 crore aid from the UAE. He also complained that the centre’s contribution is tiny and will not help the state which needs as much as Rs 2,000 crore. Now, Mr Isaac is a seasoned politician and am sure has worked in the government before this. He was a part of the GST negotiations and would be aware of how centre-state discussions work. Firstly, the centre has never said anywhere that Rs 600 crore is the final amount. It is only an initial amount. The final number would depend on surveys of damaged areas and actual analysis of the extent of damage. These numbers would be revised and probably upwards. The state’s claim that it suffered damage worth Rs 20,000 crore is just that. A claim!

Secondly, a lot of the relief work in the state would also be done by the centre. For instance, damage to railway lines and stations and signalling systems would be done by the Railways. The National Highways Authority of India would take care of damage to highways. PowerGrid would repair transmission towers. The centre’s housing scheme would help people rebuild homes with softer loans! The state does not have to spend the entire Rs 20,000 crore (assuming that is the final damage) from its own pocket. So, there is no reason to believe that the state will be alone in fighting this debacle.

Mr Isaac appeared particularly peeved that the centre has refused help from UAE. Now, one wonders why he is so insistent on this. The amount (or assistance, which can mean cash and kind) that UAE has offered is Rs 700 crore. This money can be easily secured from the centre which, as I have said before, has shown no indication that it will decline further assistance. Mr Isaac also said that the state will borrow more and is seeking centre’s permission to borrow more than the legally prescribed limit under the FRBM Act. Now, why can he borrow something extra to cover this Rs 700 crore!

He should know this more than anybody else that the centre has been refusing international relief work for calamities for more than a decade now. They did not take it during the tsunami of 2004, the Gujarat floods of 2015, the Uttarakhand floods of 2013 and the Bihar and Assam floods. It is upto the central government to either take or decline global assistance and the centre is within its rights to do so! The tsunami killed more people than the Kerala floods so if India could do without it then, it can easily do so now also. Seconly, extra money can also be found from the Kerala state budget which is about Rs 1.26 lakh crore. Somnath Mukherjee, managing partner ASK Wealth Advisors pointed out on Twitter that Kerala is spending Rs 7000-8000 crore on pay commission revisions. Suspending that for a year would get you more money than UAE is offering.

The only reason why Mr Isaac is insisting on UAE aid is to show that the Modi government is unable to help and that Kerala has to look for help from outside! It is Modi hatred that is making politicians like Mr Isaac talk like this.

Now, I know that S Gurumurthy, editor of Tughlaq made some incendiary comments linking Kerala floods and the suffering to the petition demanding entry of women into Sabarimala! That was reprehensible and bad. Mr Gurumurthy should not have made such comments. But then, he is not part of the government. The Tamil Nadu government, the state where he belongs has nothing to do with his comments. Neither do the BJP or the RSS endorse his comments. He made them as a private citizen and got the blowback which he has clarified and explained. I don’t support it and I see no reason why that should made the Kerala government functionaries and assorted intellectuals and hate mongers spew hatred and venom at North Indians.

The Marxist government is doing great disservice by playing partisan politics and giving free reign to those who indulge in caste hatred and anti-national activities. If despite all this, the rest of India is still contributing immensely to relief and aid, it only shows that people of this country will rise above petty prejudices. Marxists should take note!