Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at the central government and Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing them of spreading misinformation and neglecting Kerala’s needs after the landslides that devastated Wayanad.
The remarks were in response to Shah’s claim that the Kerala government had delayed submitting the disaster assessment report, which Vijayan described as baseless and an attempt to shirk responsibility.
Vijayan refuted Shah’s assertion, saying, “The Home Minister says that Kerala has delayed the submission of his report. This is simply not true. If we talk about the Minister of Interior, he is not the first to try to spread false information. Earlier he said that Kerala ignored warnings about landslides, but there is no such warning.”
He emphasized that Kerala had presented a detailed memorandum under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) on August 17, during the Prime Minister’s visit to the state. The request, which sought assistance of Rs 2,031 crore, went unanswered for more than three months. “It has been 100 days since the Prime Minister visited, and not a single rupee has been released,” he said.
Highlighting the disparity in disaster relief, Vijayan said some states received funds without delay. He cited examples of Rs 40 crore allocated to Tripura and Rs 3,448 crore to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for worst disasters. Kerala, he said, was the first state to complete the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report after the landslide, submitting the 583-page document within the required three-month period.
Despite this, Kerala’s three main demands have not been resolved: Declaring the Wayanad landslide a severe natural disaster for international financial assistance, canceling the debts of the survivors, and providing emergency relief under the NDRF. “None of these requests have been fulfilled,” Vijayan said, adding that the Centre’s inaction shows clear bias.
Vijayan also targeted the BJP unit in Kerala, accusing it of failing to represent the interests of the state. Comparing Kerala to other states, he said, “In other states, all political parties come together to serve the needs of the state, even the BJP’s opposition. But here, we can say the same? What is the BJP’s position in Kerala? Do they not have the responsibility to increase the rights of Kerala to their central leaders?”
He criticized the Center for treating Kerala differently, suggesting that the state’s political preferences could be the reason. “Majority of people in Kerala supported LDF or UDF. Is that why Kerala is being treated this way?” he asked.
“If the Center believes that something is missing, they should tell us. We will fix it. But this way of treating the stepmother must stop,” said Vijayan.
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