Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has accused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of having worked against the interests of expatriates ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak in foreign countries, particularly the Gulf.
Mr. Chennithala staged an eight-hour sit-in protest at a specially constructed venue in front of the Secretariat here on Friday to highlight the plight of non-resident Keralites (NoRKs) “left in the lurch” by the government.
The government had repeatedly thrown insurmountable hurdles in the front of expatriates aspiring to return home from the high-risk epidemic hotspots, he said.
It made COVID-19 free medical certification mandatory for those aspiring to return home. The decision shocked the non-resident Keralite community. Pregnant women, aged persons, children, amnestied prisoners, and those who had lost their jobs owing to the lockdown suddenly found the safety of home out of their grasp, he said.
The government followed up the decision by a “cruel order” which stated that the State could not accord the level of protection to overseas returnees it had given to other State migrant workers stranded in Kerala.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan used the pandemic as a cover to push corrupt deals.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran, who spoke at the venue, accused Health Minister K.K. Shylaja of having claimed a premature victory over COVID-19 to burnish her personal and political credentials as the defeater of the plague.
Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader M.K. Muneer were present. Other senior UDF leaders joined the protest via video link.