Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Poonthura, Thiruvananthapuram, one of the worst hit places in the devastating Ockhi cyclone, was a great relief to the victims and the families of the dead and the missing ones. He came to Poonthura after making similar visits to Lakshadweep and Kanyakumari, the places where cyclone’s effects were brutal and calamitous. He did not confine his visits to aerial survey, the usual exercise the ruling VIPs resort to. He heard the grief and grievances of the victims and the family members of the dead and the missing fishermen. The people saw a saviour in him and felt free to open up their grievances before him. They burst with grief and kept on weeping while talking to their PM. Union minister of state Alphons Kannanthanam played the role of interpreter between them.
Narendra Modi assured the people that the government will take all possible steps to bring all the missing people back home before the imminent Christmas. PM was accompanied by the State Governor P Sathashivam, CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Ministers Alphons Kannanthanam, Pon Radhakrishnan, state ministers, BJP State President Kummanam Rajasekharan and other State BJP leaders.
It is to be remembered that CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his ministerial colleagues had to flee the place when they visited there four days after the calamity. But, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman won their hearts when she visited the  victims.
PM could easily win the hearts of the victims. Even though CPM leaders tried to propagate that PM should have come earlier, the people did not accept it. They were not ready to fall an easy prey to the political trap CPM was building. They realised the genuine interest PM took in the days of destruction. They realised that the visit of the Defence Minister was a proof of it.
Immediately after the PM’s visit, Government of India declared a package of Rs 325 crore for the Ockhi victims of Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This is on top of the earlier relief declaration of Rs 280 crore for Tamil Nadu
and Rs 76 crore for Kerala respectively. The dependents of the dead will get Rs 2 lakhs each and the injured people will get Rs 50,000 each, both from the PM’s Relief Fund. Union government had sanctioned Rs 125.47 crore for Kerala’s drought relief a few days before. Government of Kerala has demanded a central package of Rs 7,340 crore for the rehabilitation and the reconstruction of the coastal sector. The PM told the Kerala Government after the receiving the State’s memorandum during a meeting with the CM and his ministerial colleagues that the demand will be looked into sympathetically. The State will get all sorts of help from the centre with respect to the relief activities. The Centre will improvise the technical devices for predicting the natural calamities. The CM told the PM that the State is thankful to the Centre for the concerted efforts of the Navy, Air Force and the Coast Guards under the co-ordinated leadership of the defence and home
ministries.
BJP leaders, in their memorandum submitted before the PM, demanded the establishment of a Fisheries department.
— T Satisan, Kerala

No RSS Links with Gandhiji’s Assassination
Kerala CMO’s reply in RTI

Kerala Chief Minister’s office (CMO) informed  in its reply to an RTI enquiry filed by R Radhakrishnan of Janam TV News Editor that it does not have any evidence to establish that RSS did assassinate Mahatma Gandhi. RTI query comprised two questions: (1) Do the CM and his office believe that RSS was behind the Mahatma Gandhi assassination and do they have any evidence or document to prove it ? (2) If they do have them, can they provide copies of the same?
And, the reply was funny! It said that they did not have any information or documents. CMO added that since those documents were not with them they are unable to give the copies to the applicant. It is funny, because, the CM stated on the floor of the legislative assembly on August 25, 2017 that RSS had killed Gandhi. Now, in the wake of the RTI reply it is clear that the CM had violated the privileges of the MLAs. He was stating something without any evidence. Since he enjoys the privileges of an MLA, no citizen can file
a suit in any court against this.  Pinarayi was
exploiting this situation in the rudest manner.
RSS has filed several defamation cases against several politicians for the same issue.  When Janam TV broke the RTI reply news on December16, 2017, the channel invited the senior leaders and MLAs of the CPM to participate in the panel discussion in the night. But, none of them turned up. A junior spokesman came and miserably failed to argue the party’s case. He was beating about the bush due to his inability to answer the questions from the other panelists.                       

Fund Raising in Gulf for IS Recruitment   

Police has got leads that mosques-based fund raising has been going on in Dubai and Sharjah for financing the IS
recruitments in Kerala. The inquiry carried out by Kannur DyS of Police has revealed that the fund raising was led by Thaslim, a native of Pappinisserry, Kannur district, the strong bastion of the CPM. He has been evading police arrest as he is wanted in connection with the IS recruitment. Police has been trying to nab him since he returned from Gulf. Earlier the enquiry team had found out that a team led by Thaslim had been funding the men who have gone to Syria from Kerala. There are several people from Kannur among them. It has been reported that money transfer had been routed through the bank account of one Mithilaj, again in Kannur. More information came out when more enquiries were carried out to find out how Thaslim managed the funds despite his meagre financial conditions.
The investigation team has collected evidences for Thaslim’s deep involvement in fund raising for the terrorist outfits. Reports suggest that a case is pending against Thaslim in Khor Fakkan, a town in the United Arab Emirates for illegal fund raising for a mosque back home. The IS man arrested had given statement that Mithilaj had collected Rs 1 lakh from the mother of Shajahan, the man arrested by NIA; he had handed over that money to a textile shop owner in Kannur and he had given it to his brother. And, the enquiries proved that Thaslim had worked in that textile shop. The IS recruits were reported to have got money from a watch shop in Rola shopping area, Sharjah. The textile shop owner in Kannur had been interrogated seriously. Since NIA has taken over the cases in connection with the IS recruitments, Kerala police is expected to hand over the details of the cases to NIA.
— T Satisan, Kerala