Kochi: Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja urged the opposition to be at least magnanimous by refraining from belittling the state government's ongoing efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. She was referring to a top Congress leader's uncharitable remarks against her over her role in the fight against the disease.
When the state is busy fighting COVID-19, the United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders should at least show the maturity to not mock the efforts of the state even if they are unable to offer any help, Shailaja said.
The minister was responding to the controversial statements made by KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran on the Kerala government’s fight against COVID, while taking part in an interview with Manorama News director Johny Lukose in a programme called ‘Nere Chovve’ aired on the channel.
“I felt hurt when I heard what had been said. It is easy to pass comments from the sidelines. Those who are not involved in the fight against COVID can make only such comments. If our efforts result in any benefit or recognition, that is for Kerala,” she said.
Ramachandran had raked up a controversy when he called Shailaja "Nipah Rajakumari" (Nipah princess) and said she was now trying to earn the title of ‘COVID Rani’ (COVID queen).
He said that Shailaja became the 'Nipah Rajakumari’ by just camping at a guest house in Kozhikode and playing a “guest role” in the fight against the deadly virus that had struck the state in 2018.
Now, she is trying to become the 'COVID ‘Rani’ and trying to take credit by hardly doing anything for the fight against COVID, he said while speaking at a fast protest organised by Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress against the state and central governments’ decision to make COVID testing mandatory for expatriates returning to Kerala.
“It is true that when the Nipah virus hit Kerala, I made a guest house in Kozhikode the hub of activities to fight it. Public activists, including those in the UDF, and the society at large knows what we did then. Those who can't even act like guest artistes blame the work we did,” the minister said.
“The opposition workers are active in many places in the fight against COVID. However, their leadership should demonstrate some maturity,” she said.
“When the (UK daily) ‘The Guardian’ called me a ‘rockstar’, what it meant was that things were getting done in Kerala energetically. It didn’t use the word in the sense of a ‘rock dancer’. The praise it heaped was for Kerala. They just took my name as I am the health minister, that’s all.”
In response to a question, she said she is no one to forgive a political activist like Mullappally Ramachandran who is elder to her.
In this context she also said intensifying testing will only result in the available kits getting exhausted. States that used up all the kits available for testing are now facing a crisis. The states that are leading in tests also are leading in the number of cases and deaths, she said.
“The effectiveness of the fight against COVID is ascertained by concluding how many people in every million population have got the disease and how many people have been tested compared to those infected. In Kerala, the number of people tested are 70 times those infected. Again, the prevalence rate in the state is only about 10 per cent, which is an achievement. This is much less than in other states,” Shailaja said.
“The community spread of a disease is not a sin or a crime. Therefore, when it happens, the people of the state will be immediately alerted. COVID-19 has not reached the community spread stage so far in Kerala. Also, the decision to not allow those with illnesses to board flights to Kerala from abroad is to ensure the safety of other healthy passengers,” she said.
If the current rate of the spread persists, Kerala will continue to have COVID-19 cases for six more months and the state could end up with about 25,000 cases, Shailaja said. She also said the state has sufficient facilities to deal with even 50,000 COVID cases.
