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Centre must provide more support and aid to flood-hit Kerala: Rahul Gandhi
“I have come here as a support and not to politicise the situation. I will not comment on the nature of this crisis,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi said when asked if Kerela floods was a man-made crisis.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi reiterated on Wednesday the Centre must provide more support and aid to flood-ravaged Kerala, where thousands of people are struggling to get back to their homes and rebuild them.
“The extent of support that the central government has given should be more. This is owed to the people of Kerala. It is their right. I am sad that central government has not given as much aid as they should,” Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI in Kochi.
“I visited a large number of camps yesterday, people are worried. I spoke to Kerela CM too. It is important that the government gives a sense to the people that it is going to help rebuild the houses. Compensation promised should be delivered quickly,” he added.
The Congress president is on a two-day visit to Kerala and met people in the districts hit hardest by the natural disaster which killed hundreds of people, left dozens missing and pushed about a million to relief camps.
“I have come here as a support and not to politicise the situation. I will not comment on the nature of this crisis,” he said when asked if Kerela floods was a man-made crisis.
His party had said last week the worst floods in a century to strike the state was a man-made disaster and sought a judicial probe into circumstances that led to it. Gandhi has been demanding that the Centre must declare the Kerala floods as a national disaster.
The death toll in the second spell of monsoon since August 8 which triggered disastrous landslides and floods in Kerala has risen to 302 till Sunday, the state government said. This has taken the overall toll in rain-related incidents to 474 since May 29, when the south-west monsoon had set in over the southern state.
Gandhi once again made a scathing attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and said it was threatening democracy in the country.
‘’There are two different visions of India, one is a centralised vision and other is a decentralised vision. One respects only one ideology, based out of Nagpur and other respects all different ideas, cultures, different people in this country. That fight is on,’’ he said.
