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Thiruvananthapuram: The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers who are protesting in front of the Kerala Secretariat appealed to actors Mohanlal, Mammooty and Kamal Haasan not to take part in the Kerala government’s official event, which is going to declare the state “extreme poverty free”. The event is scheduled on November 1, the ‘Kerala Piravi’ day.
The protesting ASHAs told the actors in an open letter that they, who earn Rs 233 per day, are extremely poor.
The letter read, “Kerala cannot be called free from extreme poverty while we continue to live in misery.”
ASHAs reminded that by taking part in the event, the actors will be unintentionally promoting the falsehood that Kerala is free of the extreme poor.
“Therefore, with love and respect, we, the impoverished ASHA workers of Kerala, humbly request you to withdraw from the government’s poverty-free declaration ceremony,” the letter read.
In the letter, the ASHAs appeal, “Please come and see us, the ASHA warriors in front of the Secretariat, those who cannot afford three meals a day, who cannot educate their children, who cannot afford treatment for serious illnesses, who are drowning in debt. Without increasing our meagre wages, declaring Kerala as free from extreme poverty is nothing but a great falsehood, a deception by the government.”
ASHA workers started their protest before the Kerala Secretariat early this year, under the leadership of the ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA).
The state government has invited the three actors- Malayalam's Big Ms Mammootty and Mohanlal, along with multitalented Kamala Haasan, to the November 1 event scheduled at the Central Stadium in Kerala’s capital, where the state will be officially declared to be the first state in India free of extreme poverty.