As families of the 45 Indians, who died in the deadly Kuwait fire, mourn their loss, a political fight has broken out between the Kerala government and the Centre. The tiff between the Centre and state comes as Kerala health minister Veena George’s plan to travel to Kuwait was shot down by the Ministry of External Affairs.

While George, herself, called the decision as unfortunate, the Congress said that the Centre’s decision sent a “wrong message”.

What exactly happened in this matter? And how is the Centre involved? We get you the answers.

What is the Veena George matter?

On Thursday afternoon, Health Minister
Veena George
and the state director of the National Health Mission, Jeevan Babu IAS had arrived at the Nedumbassery Airport in Cochin ahead of the intended visit to Kuwait following the deadly
blaze in Kuwait’s Mangaf city
, which claimed the lives of 45 Indians.

Of the 45 who have
died
in the fire, 23 were from Kerala and it was owing to this that the southern state had decided to send a representative to the Gulf nation. However, she had to cut it off after hours following the denial of clearance. In fact, she waited until 8.30 pm after the check-in time for the Centre’s sanction.

George said that the Centre’s decision in the face of death, tragedy and tears faced by the Malayali community was “wrong and most unfortunate.” She was quoted as telling The Hindu: “We were hopeful of receiving the clearance at least in the last minute and had been pursuing it while on the way to the airport. Many of the injured Malayalis remain admitted in various hospitals back in Kuwait. Some of them are in intensive care units. Their families are not with them. While loss of every life is painful, Malayalis are the worst affected.”

She also said: “The Embassy did not give us the exact data on the number of seriously injured people. The data that we have collected from there is that a total of seven people have been admitted to the hospital and 4 of them are from Kerala, but this is not officially declared. The purpose of my visit (to Kuwait) was that I wanted to be with the injured and bring their needs to the attention of the Central Government.”

Meanwhile, a special
IAF plane
carrying the remains of 45 Indian victims has landed in Kerala. Minister of State of MEA Kirti Vardhan Singh, who also returned to India on the same flight, expressed his sorrow at the loss of lives.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is present at Cochin International Airport, said, “This is a grave tragedy that hit our country. About 50 people have been killed in the incident. It is the most grim tragedy in the lives of NRIs.”

What clearance?

Kerala’s minister was unable to go as she didn’t receive the necessary clearance from the Centre. However, what is this clearance? Rules state that foreign visits by chief ministers or state-level ministers come under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Cabinet Secretariat.

When the minister in question sends a request for a visit, the PMO sends the application to the Ministry of External Affairs from where it is then sent to the Indian mission in the country that the CM wishes to visit.

A thorough investigation is then carried out. The nature of the event, participation of other nations, and India’s ties with the host country are all taken into consideration. A report is sent back to the MEA. The MEA then forwards the recommendation and the report to the PMO which takes the final call.

It’s important to note here that since 2016, applications for clearance can be made online, on a portal opened by the ministry.

Interestingly, state ministers also need clearance from the Department of Economic Affairs for their foreign visits.

The process isn’t much different for Union ministers. However, they need an additional clearance from the prime minister on whether the trip is in an official capacity or personal. Meanwhile, Lok Sabha members need clearance from the Speaker and Rajya Sabha members need approval from the Chairperson — the vice president of India.

While this protocol has been followed for years, in June 2014, then Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Lavasa had written to Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, saying that the “dilatory system” of the External Affairs Ministry clearing all proposals for travel abroad by officials should be changed, as per an Indian Express report.

Seth had then forwarded the letter to the foreign affairs ministry following which then Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh had responded, saying it was the ministry’s prerogative to decide on the suitability, desirability and level of participation of Indian officials in engagements abroad.

Have other ministers been denied in the past?

A refusal to Kerala’s Veena George isn’t the first such instance. In July 2022, Delhi chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal
was denied permission for a visit to Singapore. He had been invited to attend the World Cities Summit between 31 July and 3 August to be held in the city-state to present the Delhi model of governance.

Expressing his anger over the decision, he had said: “I am not a criminal, I am the elected chief minister and I am a free citizen of the country. Why am I being stopped? The Government of Singapore has specially called me to present the Delhi model.”

In October 2019 too, Kejriwal did not receive approval to attend a climate conference in Demark’s Copenhagen, which he later attended virtually. He was not given a political clearance by the MEA.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has also been denied permission to travel abroad at least twice. Banerjee was denied permission for a trip to Rome in September 2021 to attend the World Peace Conference. The MEA had said that “the event is not commensurate in status for participation by a chief minister of a state”. Later the same year, she was again refused permission to travel to Nepal by the MEA in December. She was invited to the convention by the Nepali Congress.

In 2017, then Kerala tourism minister K Surendran was denied permission by the MEA to visit China for a tourism conference. It was found that the host was not providing suitable protocol to the minister from an important Indian state, reports The Hindu.

And during the United Progressive Alliance rule, Tarun Gogoi, who was then the Assam chief minister, was not allowed to visit the United States and Israel.

With inputs from agencies

Link to article – 

Kuwait fire: Why Kerala health minister was not allowed to visit Kuwait to help in aid operations