Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statements in Parliament, political representatives across parties in Kerala said it was not the time for a blame game. The statements follow Amit Shah's remarks suggesting that the Kerala government had received early warnings about potential landslides, which resulted in over 250 deaths and 200 injuries in Wayanad district.
Meanwhile, Kerala Health Minister Veena George told reporters on Thursday, August 1, that no red alert for landslides was issued by the Union government. "We have verified all communications from the Union, and there was no red alert issued regarding landslides. The district administration acted based on an orange alert, which is a level lower in severity. It was the state who asked for the NDRF as well. I am not sure why these claims are being made by the Union government,” Veena George said.
On July 31, during a discussion in Rajya Sabha about Wayanad, Amit Shah said, "I want to clarify that on July 23, the Government of India gave an early warning to the Kerala government, which was seven days before the incident, and then on July 24 and 25 too early warning was given. On July 26, a warning was given that there was a chance of heavy rainfall of more than 20 cm, and there were chances of landslides, there could be mudflow and people could lose lives in this. Despite this, the Kerala government failed to respond. Nine NDRF battalions were dispatched on July 23 and three more were sent on July 30. It was a vulnerable situation, but why were the people not shifted to safer places? They were only shifted after the disaster."
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor also wrote a letter urging Amit Shah to declare the Wayanad landslides as a "calamity of severe nature" under MPLADS guidelines to enable urgent assistance from MPs to the affected areas. Speaking to NDTV, he said, "I don't think a blame game is where we should be going when lives are at stake and we are trying to rescue people.”
Harippad MLA, Ramesh Chennithala also said that this was the time for relief work. "We can probe allegations of the Union later, this is not the time. We do need more rehabilitation packages and aid. But now, we must focus on saving lives and recovering bodies," he said.
Speaker of Kerala Legislative Assembly, AN Shamseer spoke on similar lines and told TNM, “This is not the time to blame or think of who is responsible, who is not responsible. The man who is very senior and holds the portfolio of Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, should talk maturely. I do not know why he made such statements. This is the time to coordinate rescue operations. Unfortunately, he has made purely political statements, and such a person is not good for such moments.”