Kuwait fire: Kerala CM writes to Modi flagging MEA’s ‘apathy’ to request for political clearance for Health Minister

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan urges PM Modi to address MEA's non-response to sending Health Minister Veena George to Kuwait, highlighting cooperative federalism.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has drawn Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attention to the Union Ministry of External Affairs’s (MEA) “non-response” to the Kerala government’s request for political clearance to send Minister for Health Veena George to Kuwait to assist the families of those who had lost their lives and sustained injuries in the catastrophic fire that broke out at a labour camp at Mangaf on June 12. 

Mr. Vijayan noted that more than half of the migrant workers who died in the blaze in Kuwait were from Kerala. He said the MEA had disregarded the Cabinet’s collective decision to send Ms. George to monitor the situation closely, coordinate with Indian Embassy officials, and liaise with anxious families of the victims and the injured. 

Mr. Vijayan said people approached the Kerala governments first with their grievances in the federal system. The presence of Kerala’s Health Minister in Kuwait would have provided relief and confidence to worried families at home. 

He termed the MEA’s “non-response” as extremely unfortunate. Mr. Vijayan said his intention was not to rake up controversy in an hour of distress.

However, under the pressing circumstances, the State government was constrained to flag the issue with the Prime Minister.

Mr. Vijayan wrote that the MEA’s apathy goes against the “principles of cooperative federalism in which the Union and the States are equal partners in the pursuit for development and mitigation efforts when our people face disasters and calamities. No political or other considerations should come in the way of issuing political clearances in such compelling situations.”

Mr. Vijayan requested Mr. Modi to instruct the MEA to be more responsive to such requests from State governments in the future. He reminded Mr. Modi that goodwill between the States and the Centre was imperative for cooperative federalism.