We've often heard of stories of political rivalry and its ugly sides in Indian campuses. Sometimes it can even take the most hideous of forms, resulting in bloodshed. In such a scenario, there are a million reasons why a certain incident from Kayamkulam, a small town in Kerala stands out.
A group of SFI unionists had started a crowdfunding campaign for Rafi Peringala, a 22-year-old KSU unionist who is suffering from kidney failure. As the post went viral, a former SFI unionist has even come forward to donate his kidney to Rafi. The poster on the SFI page has an image of Rafi, who wears a headband that says KSU in bold letters. It reads, "Rafi's two kidneys have failed and a transplant is the only option. We want our brother, who worked hard throughout despite being critically ill, to be with us. Rafi's health is in our hands."
The post has garnered a lot of positive reactions both online and offline. Rafi too is unsurprisingly happy about it. "Politics was never a mandate for me to choose friends. In fact, a lot of my good friends are members of the SFI and the CPM. I always made sure to separate political ideologies from personal relationships. Good friendships are what I believed in and those friends are here to help me at the darkest hours," he says.
An ITI dropout, Rafi was diagnosed with kidney disease a year back, while he was working in Chennai. Hailing from a poor family, the sole breadwinner in his house is his mother, who works as domestic help.
