Calling it a “good decision”, Rahul Gandhi posted a thank you note for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to visit Kerala’s landslide-hit Wayanad on Saturday.
PM Modi will visit Wayanad to review the relief-and-rehabilitation efforts and interact with survivors.
“Thank you, Modi ji, for visiting Wayanad to personally take stock of the terrible tragedy. This is a good decision. I am confident that once the Prime Minister sees the extent of the devastation firsthand, he will declare it a national disaster,” said Mr Gandhi, who until recently represented Wayanad in parliament.
Thank you, Modi ji, for visiting Wayanad to personally take stock of the terrible tragedy. This is a good decision.
I am confident that once the Prime Minister sees the extent of the devastation firsthand, he will declare it a national disaster.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 9, 2024
Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had requested the central government to declare this as a national disaster and a severe calamity.
Officials said PM Modi will reach Kannur around 11 am and then undertake an aerial survey of the landslides-affected areas in Wayanad.
PM Modi will then chair a review meeting during which he will be briefed in detail about the incidents and the ongoing relief efforts.
The Prime Minister’s visit comes days after Rahul Gandhi – accompanied by sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is going to make her poll debut from the constituency – visited the area.
“I remember what I felt when my father died. But here people have not just lost a father… they have lost families… brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers. I know what I felt (when his father was killed) and this is much worse than that. It is not one person suffering but thousands,” said Mr Gandhi underscoring the
Days of torrential monsoon rain battered the southern coastal state of Kerala, advertised as God’s own country, before twin landslides struck before dawn on Tuesday last week, killing more than 200 people.
The landslides in Wayanad, famed for the tea estates that crisscross its hilly countryside, were the worst since about 400 people were killed in floods in Kerala in 2018.
