Flooding due to monsoon rains in mid-August has devastated the southern Indian state of Kerala. Hundreds have been killed and hundreds of thousands evacuated.
In the August 19 statement below the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation accuses India’s hard right BJP government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of deliberate neglect of flood victims.
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The CPI(ML) condemns the shocking insensitivity and neglect of the central government towards flood-devastated Kerala.
In spite of repeated requests by the state government and concerned people all over India, the centre has refused to declare the deluge a national calamity.
Prime Minister Modi made a belated visit to Kerala, but he failed to release the Rs2000 crore (roughly $400 million) requested by the Kerala chief minister for relief and rehabilitation of people and rebuilding of the state.
Instead, he added just a meagre Rs500 crore (roughly $100 million) to the Rs100 crore the Centre had already released.
Such deliberate neglect exposes the true face of BJP’s claims of cooperative federalism. Clearly, the centre’s attitude is driven by political vendetta towards left-ruled Kerala.
Meanwhile, the centre’s callousness is in contrast to the herculean rescue and relief efforts being made by members of the armed forces as well as by civilians in Kerala as well as the rest of India. Special mention must be made of the fish-workers, whose fishing boats are reaching and rescuing people in isolated areas where even the Navy boats are unable to reach.
The CPI(ML) has appealed to its members and committees all over India to collect relief for the people of Kerala.