Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the Center of denying help to the landslide-affected people of Wayanad due to politics and asserted that there should be no discrimination during natural calamities.
His comments came after Kerala MPs including Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi. protested Saturday at the Parliament premises, demanding a relief package from the Center for landslide-hit Wayanad.
Demonstrating in front of Makardwar steps, MPs raised slogans calling for “Justice for Wayanad”. They also carried a banner reading ‘Justice for Wayanad, Relief Package for Wayanad’.
Speaking to reporters, Priyanka Gandhi said, “We are very disturbed by the fact that the government has refused to give a special package to Wayanad. We have gone to the home minister, written to the prime minister and all possible to declare that it is a calamity of serious nature and to give a special package.”
The Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh has witnessed similar destruction and there too they have long been demanding that the Center provide assistance, she said.
“In Wayanad, the entire country has seen the devastation, the pain and suffering of the people and yet because of politics, the central government, in both cases, is refusing to give anything to the victims,” she said.
“They are citizens of India. There should be no discrimination during natural calamities, during suffering, during any kind of suffering. That is the time when the central government, the prime minister should be the guardian of the life of every Indian citizen and the livelihood of every Indian citizen,” the Congress general secretary said alongside protesting MPs from Kerala.
“That is the time for them to put politics aside and provide the necessary support. We are deeply disappointed because we expected to highlight this issue and explain the pain and suffering (as it has been) to them… Prime Minister himself has seen.
“We thought out of humanity and compassion that they would be given due to the victims of Wayanad,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
When asked about Home Minister Amit Shah’s response to demands made by Kerala MPs earlier this month, she said the note only talked about expenditure on fuel for Indian Air Force aircraft.
The damage is Rs 2,000 crore but it depends on how much the government wants to provide, she said.
Earlier this month, a delegation of Kerala MPs, led by a Wayanad MP, met Shah, who sought the Centre’s support for the landslide-affected people, urging him to rise above politics and go further in providing relief.
Priyanka Gandhi said that there are people affected by landslides in Wayanad who have no support system. If the Center fails to act in such a situation, it sends a very bad message to the entire country and especially the victims, she said.
Priyanka Gandhi asserted last week that disasters should not be politicized and the people of landslide-hit Wayanad are looking up to the state and central governments with hope and said there is “no need for excuses”.
She said the people of Wayanad are in urgent need of help to rebuild their lives with dignity.
The disaster that hit Kerala on July 30 destroyed large parts of three villages—Punchirimattam, Churalmala and Mundakkai—along with sections of Attamala in Wayanad. According to the government, 231 people died in the disaster.
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