With Malice Towards None by K. J. Thomas

With Malice Towards None

One cannot blame our Prime Minister when he compared Kerala with Somalia in Africa, in his election campaign at Thiruvanandapuram on 8^th May 2016. Various survey reports and researches show that about 42,000 Tribal population in Attapadi Block has been living in a very poor, animalistic conditions.  The infant death rate in the tribal block stands at 38, which is three times higher than the state average. The two main-stream political fronts namely the Left and the Congress sadly neglected the needs of the tribal people. Instead at every Assembly election these political parties tried to canvass votes from these poor people, politicizing the tribal issues.  A detailed study done by research scholars of Chittur College, Palakkad, analyzing the livelihood status of tribes in Attapadi block revealed that the Human Development Indices (HDI) of this tribal block and African countries like Somalia and Ethiopia area almost the same.  This is the case with many tribal and non-tribal areas in various parts of Kerala and these people silently suffer their pain and poverty in the midst of affluent and posh areas in the cities of Kerala. Jisha murder at Perumbavoor shows how carelessly the investigation of the murder case was handled by the police and the initial negligence led to the prolong delay in finding out the murderer, just because the Law student happened to be a poor Dalit woman living in utter poverty on the ‘puramboke’ area on the canal.  The law and order situation, unfortunately is fast declining in this “God’s own country’. In the light of these, one can agree with what the Prime Minister said.

 Instead of blaming the Prime Minister, the leaders of the various political parties search for the truth of the reality and join together for the development of Kerala.                                                    Kjt/12-05-2016