'The Kerala Story' cultural icons won't speak about

Keralites are omnipresent across the globe. In India too, even the remote northeast villages may have a Malayali presence. The Kerala people have always cherished sauntering different terrains for work. On a similar note, many people from other states also reach Kerala in huge numbers. Before the 90s, the practice was seldom seen. Only Tamil Nadu natives reached for work in the estates of Idukki and Ernakulam region. Many people from such tribes later turned to laundry businesses and now keep living by ironing clothes. Many such families can be seen across the south Kerala belt ironing clothes. Now, Tamil people reach Kerala not seeking laundry jobs, but to work in restaurants. Even natives from Bihar and Jharkhand come in large numbers seeking the restaurant niche to earn a living.

At present, Kerala houses many such migrant workers. The natives are not averse to these migrant workers but moreover share a bonhomie. The Kerala people helping the migrant worker travel back to their homelands during the lockdown in covid was a testimony to the shared happiness. However, such bonds are slowly crumbling down. Many cases have been reported in Kerala about scuffles between natives and migrant workers. In the latest, a Bihar native was killed by nine locals after they doubted the migrant labor for a thief.

The incident happened in Kondotty in Malappuram. Bihar native Rajesh Manchi was tied up in a tree and was bashed until death. The nine locals accused Manchi of theft, but no such evidence is in the picture. Kerala people sometimes adopt a condescending attitude. Limitless boasting of literacy and education but still indulging in such mob murders reeks of hypocrisy. The cultural icons of Kerala used to be in their irate incarnation if any such mob killing happened in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. Awards were returned back while some others organized candlelight vigils condemning such happening in far way UP and Bihar. However, to this time, the eminent cultural meisters of Kerala are schtum on Manchi's mob killing with the least craving to pen words for scathing op-eds.

The abuse of Manchi was shooted in with a mobile, making it similar on the lines to the death of Attapadi native Madhu. These attacks are meted out at financially downtrodden people incapable of any retribution. Nobody will remember Manchi for long. He is not a Keralaite, but a migrant worker like the lakhs who are settled in Kerala. The lenses of cultural eminent are still fixated on UP among other states of India where the saffron party calls shots.

However, if such acts are to be repeated, the people of UP and Bihar can easily think about something in the line of vengeance and can hurt the Keralites settled in such states. Interstate rivalries have never been a thing of distress for India. Cases are paltry citing such fights, but if Kerala decides to move in a similar path of wrongs, the country should seriously presage for some inter-state turmoil in the future.