Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday, 6 February, wrote to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, asking them to consider the fishermen of Kerala for this year’s award, in light of their ‘courageous service and sacrifice’ they had displayed during the devastating 2018 Kerala floods.
“I would like to nominate the fishermen of Kerala for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. They represent an outstanding and wholly deserving candidacy, one that would be a worthy addition to the champions of humanity that the award has recognised over the years,” Tharoor wrote in his letter to Berit Reiss-Anderson, chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
“It was during the height of this tragedy that fishermen groups of Kerala, at great risk to their lives and potential damage to the boats that are the source of their livelihood, jumped into the fray to save their fellow citizens," Tharoor said in his letter.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP’s Twitter handle tweeted the letter and the nomination.
“They took their boats inland, and with their expert knowledge of the local conditions, their participation in the ongoing relief operations proved to be a gamechanger, as not only were they able to pick up stranded personnel in their vicinity, but were also instrumental in guiding boats of other rescue teams amidst the swirling waters," Tharoor wrote.
In 2018, the fishermen had been instrumental in saving the lives of those stranded in the deluge that devastated the southern state. As many as 669 boats went out with 4,537 fishermen, and they would have saved at least 65,000 lives, according to official figures, reported The News Minute.
After their contribution to the rescue efforts, the fishermen from various parts of the state were felicitated in Thiruvananthapuram, with a golden shawl, an amount of Rs 3,000 and other gifts.
“They did not know if the boats they took out would come back fine. They went out into the floods without thinking of anything, without thinking of money or their own lives or their families, to save the thousands trapped. Giving you a big salute from Kerala,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said at the felicitation ceremony, according to the report.
(With inputs from The News Minute.)
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