Kanhaiya Kumar was an iconic memory of Kerala floods in 2018.
The video grab of Kanhaiya, 32, running over a bridge holding a child tightly to his chest had been one of the most memorable moments of the flood. He was part of a team assigned for rescue operations in Idukki district where the shutters of all the dams were to be opened amid heavy rains.
Kanhaiya, belonging to the 4th battalion of the NDRF, had become one of the icons of Kerala floods on the very first day he arrived in the state.
Now he is back in Kerala as the state is again being lashed by heavy rains and landslides.
“I am again in Kerala. Our NDRF battalion is ready to serve you all,'' Kanhaiya told THE WEEK over phone.
This time he is stationed in Wayanad, a high-range region in north Kerala, which incidentally is also the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
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According to him, the scene in Wayanad is pretty bad as was the case of Idukki where he had served last time.
“The same rains, same wind...,'' he said.
According to him, 40 houses are under the soil where his battalion is located.
Kanhaiya had become the toast of the state last year as the video grab where he was seen running with a baby in his hands over the bridge that was about to be devoured by the huge currents had gone viral.
“I did receive a lot of love and affection from the people of Kerala. I had kind of become a celebrity those days,'' Kanhaiya recalled.
He, however, insisted that he was just doing his duty. “But it is a fact that I feel happy and proud thinking of what our battalion could do last year,'' he said.
Recalling that eventful day, he said: “I was told that someone on the other side of the Cheruthony bridge needed help. Hearing this I ran to the other side along with a colleague. By then the shutters had all opened and the water was about to devour the old bridge. I saw a person holding a kid and I understood the situation. I just took the kid from the father's hand and ran back,'' he said.
Did he not feel fear? “Fear was certainly there. But duty comes first before anything else,'' he said.
Incidentally, he is back in Kerala at a time when the government was planning to invite him for an event to commemorate the survival of Flood 2018.
“Fate plays strange games. I was hoping to hear a word of 'thank you' from your chief minister ji. But I am again here to do rescue operations,'' he said.
A native of Lakshisari in Bihar, Kanhaiya had joined the CISF in 2006.
