Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushed to Gujarat on Tuesday, conducted aerial survey of the flood affected areas of the state, especially the northern part and declared a relief package of Rs 500 crore. An amount of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of those deceased and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured was also announced.
So far so good, for the prime minister is supposed to take stock of situations arising out of calamities. And Gujarat is Modi's home state. He was well aware of the state's topography and every nook and corner very well even before he had become the chief minister in 2001, thanks to his RSS days as a pracharak.
The story just begins here over the manner in which the political parties are trying to milk the floods ahead of elections by the year end.
While just a phone call or meeting officers concerned was just enough, Modi sat through audio visual presentation in which Mayor Gautam Shah was also present. Apart from announcing aid, Modi also announced that a central team would come to assess the damage to public and private infrastructure. He also went on to add that they would transfrom the calamity into an opportunity and prepare a new redevelopment plan for the affected areas.
The ruling BJP may well be doing its best to tackle crisis resulting out of floods, but it is also making all out efforts to ensure that the message reaches loud and clear to the masses that they are acting. In the BJP's press release issued on Tuesday, state spokesperson Bharat Pandya began by saying that the prime minister, who always is concerned about Gujarat, rushed to the state. He also had to say that the Centre is helping the State.
There was a word of praise for chief minister Vijay Rupani as well. The brief said that despite adverse conditions, the chief minister was visiting flood affected areas. It went on to say that while the Congress was busy in internal politics, the BJP's workers were helping people in difficult times.
The state government had already briefed about the relief and rescue operations, the BJP also repeated the details. The BJP has also started a 24-hour state control room.
The opposition Congress, on its part, criticised the government and said that the efforts were not sufficient. It also started a 24-hour control room, a day after the BJP did.
Former Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela on Wednesday alleged that the disaster management had failed in the state.
Founding director of the Sardar Patel Research Institute Hari Desai pointed out that the BJP was obviously doing it for winning an election. Desai also said that at the Centre and the State, the BJP had failed to deliver on the promises.
Commenting on the politics over floods, he said that the era of personalities was gone and we were in an era of dwarfs.
