NEW DELHI: The Congress announced on Tuesday its plans to organise demonstrations, within and outside Parliament, led by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhiprotesting the insufficient Central aid for Wayanad’s landslide victims.
T Siddique, the party leader and Kalpetta MLA, criticised the Centre’s apparent unwillingness to provide financial support to affected areas, terming it “inhuman”. He stated both he and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan requested assistance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the disaster.
“It is an inhuman approach towards the people who have suffered such a massive tragedy,” he said, as quoted by PTI, adding that the Congress party would intensify its protests both inside and outside Parliament against this.“Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi will lead the agitation,” he told reporters.
The CPI(M)-led LDF government and opposition Congress-led UDF have jointly urged the BJP-led union government to categorise the landslide as a national disaster and provide necessary assistance for survivors’ rehabilitation promptly. However, the government recently informed Kerala there’s no provision to declare calamities as “national disasters” under current disaster relief fund guidelines, causing political row.
The July 30 landslide affected three villages—Punchirimattam, Chooralmala, and Mundakkai—and parts of Attamala. Official reports indicate 231 deaths and 47 people still missing.
