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Letters

I write in response to the article on the devastating Kerala floods, “Awash with hate” (August 26).
I strongly condemn the hints at a religious divide in the southern Indian state. It is astounding that the author should seek to defame an entire state solely based on the opinions of a few individuals.
Keeping in mind the left-liberal orientation of much of the media, both domestic and international, it is not surprising that this is yet another attempt to malign the reputation of the majority Hindu community. Besides governmental and military organisations, most private relief groups carrying out humanitarian missions in Kerala are Hindu, contrary to what the article tries to portray.

More than a million people sheltering at flood relief camps in India’s Kerala
It is also patently false that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejected an aid offer from the United Arab Emirates (“Facing US$3 billion in flood damage, India rejects UAE’s US$100 million offer”, August 23). It was fake news.
But, even otherwise, the policy of not accepting foreign aid for disasters didn’t commence with the present government, but with the previous one led by the Congress party. For example, unlike other countries, India refused to accept any foreign aid for the Indian Ocean tsunami victims in 2004. The truth is India is fully self-sufficient and such outside aid is not needed.
Kailash Singh, Pok Fu lam


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Claims of ‘religious divide’ in India’s flooded Kerala state are fake news

Volunteers serve tea and snacks to flood victims, at a relief camp set up at Sree Narayana College Cherthala in Alappuzha, Kerala, on August 23. Hundreds have died and at least 800,000 been displaced in the southern Indian state’s worst floods in a century. Photo: Bloomberg

Volunteers clean a flood-hit residential house following floods in Kuttanad in Alappuzha district in the southern state of Kerala, India, August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Sivaram V

Fears mount for stranded villages in India flood crisis as death toll hits 320

People are airlifted by the Indian Navy soldiers. Photo: Reuters

epa06954799 Ariel view of the flooded Kochi, Kerala state, India, 17 August 2018. According to reports, the region is on a high alert with schools and offices been closed due to the rising water levels of Periyar river after the gates of the Idukki reservoir were opened. The Indian state of Kerala has been hit by heavy rains that caused floods and reportedly killed at least 300 people. EPA-EFE/PRAKASH ELAMAKKARA

People salvage motorcycles in a country boat in a flooded area at Kainakary in Alappuzha district, Kerala state, India, Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. Rescuers used helicopters and boats on Friday to evacuate thousands of people stranded on their rooftops following unprecedented flooding in the southern Indian state of Kerala that killed more than 320 people in the past nine days, officials said. (AP Photo/Tibin Augustine)

This handout photograph released by India's Defence Ministry on August 18, 2018 shows an Indian man being winched up to an Indian Air Force helicopter as he is evacuated from a flood affected area in the southern state of Kerala. - Dozens of Indian military helicopters stepped up rescue operations in flood stricken Kerala state August 18 with pilots flying high-risk missions to rescue pregnant women and families from rooftops and isolate islands of land. (Photo by Handout / INDIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / INDIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS -

Opinion