Feted for his role, Chandy shares kudos with Sushma
KOCHI: How did the country manage a diplomatic coup with such tailor-made precision? This was the question on everyone’s lips. There were few takers for BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s theory that a threat to bomb ISIS-held areas worked to bring the nurses home. “Swamy has always been good in hoodwinking real issues,” most of them said.
But the man who played a key role in the entire exercise — Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy — harboured no such theory. Chandy gave the whole credit to the joint effort of both the state and the Central governments. It was a rare instance of a politician praising an opposition leader.
The chief minister was in direct contact with most of the stranded nurses and they called him even in the dead of the night to explain their misery and hardships, and, at times, even vent their anger. He assured them that everything was being done to bring them home and, as things turned out, he kept his word. Talking to the Hindustan Times, the much-relieved CM said he did not want to take the whole credit and was grateful to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for interfering at the right time. “In fact, the plane carrying the nurses was delayed by a few hours due to some diplomatic reasons, but the minister intervened and it took flight in 30 minutes,” he said, lauding Sushma’s efforts in ironing out the eleventh-hour wrinkles.
“Our first priority was always to bring them back unharmed,” said Chandy. “Thanks to help from all quarters, we did it successfully. Now, we have to find out why our people are going abroad in large numbers.”
He added that better working conditions and returns would ensure that people stay at home to make a living.