Priyanka Gandhi slams central government for refusing to declare Wayanad landslide a national disaster

New Delhi: The federal government was criticized by Congress General Secretary and Wayanad Party candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for not declaring the Wayanad landslides a national catastrophe.

Priyanka criticized the federal government for “denying essential relief to those in dire need” and referred to it as a “shocking injustice” to the victims in a post on X.

According to reports, the federal government has rejected the state’s proposal to designate the Wayanad landslides a national catastrophe.

“The BJP government refuses to designate the landslides that destroyed Wayanad a national catastrophe, depriving citizens in grave need of vital aid. Priyanka said, “This is a shocking injustice to those who have suffered unimaginable loss; it’s not just negligence.”

Priyanka called the “singling out and lack of support” unusual and reprehensible, drawing comparisons to the alleged carelessness towards Himachal Pradesh.

“Wayanad’s residents are entitled to better. Despite visiting Wayanad during the catastrophe and personally seeing its consequences, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is engaging in political gamesmanship and refusing vital relief. During a period of extreme difficulty for the people of Himachal Pradesh, the same thing was done to them. Tragedies of this size have not historically been politicized in this way. “It is unprecedented and completely unacceptable that victims of these tragedies are being singled out and not supported for political reasons,” she added.

In a letter earlier this month, P Sandosh Kumar, a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI), asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to act immediately to help the landslide victims in the Wayanad region, especially Chooralmala.

He included a picture of Nysa, a young girl who lost her father and siblings in the landslide, with the letter. He wrote, “To remind you, Nysa Mol is a little girl with whom your image had gone viral when you visited the landslide-affected areas of Wayanad, including Chooralmala, on the 10th of August 2024, 10 days after massive landslides wreaked havoc in the region.”

In the letter to the PM, Kumar, who had visited Nysa’s home two days before, said that she was still residing in a rental apartment given by the state government.

The CPI leader went on to say that, returning to the life of young Nysa Mol, she lives with her mother and grandmother in leased housing given by the Keralan government. The Kerala government provides the family with Rs 300 a day to cover their expenses. Your encounter with the little child gave hope to hundreds of people who were devastated by the natural disaster, in addition to her family, but to no effect.

Although the Kerala government is making every effort to give relief and rehabilitation with the help of several civil society and volunteer organizations, the Union Government’s essential aid has not reached Kerala in a timely manner. After losing her father and brothers, little Nysa Mol received Rs 6 lakh from the Kerala government and Rs 1 lakh in two installments from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

In June of this year, hundreds of people were murdered in Wayanad as a result of a series of landslides caused by heavy rains. In Meppadi panchayat, Vythiri taluk, Wayanad district, the villages of Punjirimattom, Mundakkai, Chooralmala, and Vellarimala experienced landslides.