In the past few days, you may have seen many people posting on social media with hashtags like #KeralaLovesTamilNadu, #வந்தாரை_வாழ_வைக்கும்_தமிழ்_நாடு (Tamil Nadu, the state that welcomes its guests and lets them live a productive life), #TogetherWeShallOvercome, #WeLoveTamilNadu and many more.
This includes prominent members of Kerala society like Congress MLA VT Balram, actor Rima Kallingal, and journalist Shahina Nafeesa. Seira Salim, an Idea Star Singer contestant, has even done a Facebook Live asking for peace. The video has received several comments from social media users who echo her sentiments.
These responses are the result of a bizarre "fight" that has been going on between a few unidentified Malayalis and Tamil people on social media. Hate messages and videos with language that's insulting to each other's community have been doing the rounds.
As a consequence, many have posted this message on social media:
"There are reports of certain videos being spread on social media, videos through which a certain group of youngsters from both Kerala and Tamil Nadu are seen exchanging hate speech against each other. We do not know where this originated from, but it's our collective responsibility to make sure it stops immediately. Kerala and Tamil Nadu have a long standing association of mutual love, respect and cooperation. We are grateful that the people of Tamil Nadu have recently shown so much generosity and compassion towards their brothers and sisters in Kerala in their most difficult times. Whoever is promoting this hate campaign does not hold the best of interests of these two states. Their attempt is to break our unity and cripple the brotherhood. Let's not be a part of this conspiracy."
The hate campaign has received enough eyeballs, so much so that the Kerala police has now stepped in to counter it.
On the official Facebook page of the Kerala police, the following message has been posted:
"Videos of a young Malayali woman and a Tamil man making statements based on a personal feud are being shared widely on social media. It has come to our notice that other people have started portraying these personal videos as a problem between the two states and have started posting videos challenging people from across the border."
Calling such videos savage and foolish, the Kerala police has asked people to refrain from posting such videos. Several users have commended the Kerala police for its message and have urged people to stay united.
Social media users have also made posters, asking people of the two states not to fight but to keep up their brotherhood and maintain harmony.