As the floods in Kerala continue to cause havoc, people across the state have joined hands for the relief of those affected. On 10 August, Vishnu Kachhawa, a blanket merchant from Madhya Pradesh, became an overnight star on social media after he donated his entire stock of blankets for the flood relief programme in Kerala.
As reported, Vishnu had initially planned to sell the stock which he bought from Haryana, but donated fifty blankets after seeing the devastation caused by the flood.
As reported by The Week, Vishnu who belongs from Madhya Pradesh, came to Kerala when he was 16. He lives he with his wife and two children in Kerala’s Kannur district. Speaking to The Week,
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“Kannur is my second home. Kerala has given me everything, a place to stay, a livelihood to support my family and raise my children and really good climate. I am seeing Kerala in such agony for the first time. I cannot afford to watch people suffering and I gave them what I have.”Vishnu Kachhawa
‘Want to Give Back to the State’
On 10 August, he visited the Kannur’s Iritty taluk office with a pile of 50 blankets and donated the stock to the deputy deputy tehsildar Lakshmanan.
“I thought he was joking. I asked him how he would earn his living if he donated his blankets. But Vishnu was adamant,” Lakshamanan told The Week.
On 12 August, the Chief Minister of Kerala said that 33 people have been killed and 6 are missing. On the previous day, the government had said that 54,000 people have been left homeless due to incessant rains witnessed in the state since 9 August.
On 10 August, the Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan – who in a tweet described the floods as the ‘worse’ natural calamity the state has seen the longest time – requested people to come together and ‘contribute generously’.
‘Real Hero’: Twitter Reacts to Vishnu’s Gesture
Twitter users praised Kacchawa’s generous donation action and called him a ‘real hero.’
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