#Kerala’s response to the recent floods is an awe-inspiring lesson to other states.
On the one hand, the supremely reassuring sight of everyone–from chief minister to fishermen; from bureaucrats to common citizens; from journalists to trolls–stepping up to the plate.
Is there anything that has moved you more than a man offering his back to stranded people to step on to a boat?
On the other hand, the intellectual response to the arrogance of #Hindutva scum, who painted the floods as God’s wrath against women being allowed into Sabarimala; that only the rich were affected; that flood relief would land up in the hands of Christians and Communists, etc.
The #NarendraModi government’s low-grade petty partisanship in refusing to call it a “national disaster”, in giving a pittance of Rs 600 crore but rejecting Rs 700 crore from the United Arab Emirates, is not going unnoticed, and will not be forgotten in the state which has the most number of RSS #shakhas.
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The communicator, designer and brand consultant *Prem* has a calm monologue (with English subtitles) that is worth a watch:
“Being a consumer state, we do buy a lot.
We buy brands a lot.
On the other hand, we are political.
We are political to the core.
We are concerned about the political correctness of each and every word you utter.
We are critical about the political correctness of each and every gesture you make.
So, we don’t buy branded politics.
We don’t accept branded inhuman politics.
To put it in Malayalam, we don’t step on cow dung.
But, if by accident, we step on cow dung, we wash our feet in good clean water and dry it with a clean towel before entering our homes.”