People in the field who closely monitored the water level were posting messages in the microblogging sites about the ulterior motives of the CPI-M leaders and the Kerala ministers.

The CPI-M led Kerala government was caught with its trousers down as the demand for funds for flood relief and rehabilitation raised by Chief Minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan has been found to be a big hoax.

What is causing concern is the delay by the Kerala Government in submitting to the Centre the official data about the extent of damages caused in the man-made floods.

The Chief Minister who has been complaining from day one that the Narendra Modi-led federal government was victimising it because of the former’s secular, liberal, democratic and human rights policies was also campaigning through the mass media that the State needs more than Rs.40,000 crores ($6 billion) for the reconstruction of roads and other infrastructure facilities.

Vijayan had told Prime Minister Modi who visited the State on August 18 that the recent man-made floods had caused a loss of Rs.20,000 crores ($3 billion). The Chief Minister’s claim was that 98,000 km road had been destroyed because of the floods and the State required Rs.13,800 crores ($2 billion) for re-laying the same. But senior officials of the Public Works Department in their stock-taking after the receding of the flood waters found that only 34,372 km of roads have been damaged and this could be reconstructed with just Rs.5800 crores. (The 98,000 km road includes 16,000 km long road built by the PWD, 82,000 km long village roads and 134 small bridges).

The Prime Minister had issued a directive to the National Highway Authority of India to relay the damaged/ destroyed highways and the National Thermal Power Corporation and the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd to repair/ rectify/ replace the power system and transmission lines which were damaged in the man-made floods.

What is causing concern is the delay by the Kerala Government in submitting to the Centre the official data about the extent of damages caused in the man-made floods. Interestingly, the Kerala Chief Minister in his daily interactions with the media had stated that the damages may cross even Rs.40,000 crores.

The State is yet to respond to the queries made by the NHAI, NTPC and the PGCIL about the details of the damaged caused by the highways and power sector in the disaster. Pinarayi Vijayan did not expect the Prime Minister to make a declaration that the Centre would take over the reconstruction works caused by the man-made floods. Did the CPI-M led Kerala government want to make a big fortune out of the floods by claiming that the State had suffered massive destruction? The Prime Minister also went to the extent of declaring that the houses destroyed/ damaged in the floods would be rebuilt/ repaired under the Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana, a scheme initiated by the Centre for making houses available to all those without a roof over their heads.

What caught the attention in the recent floods was the stance of the Kerala Government and the CPI-M in publicising the “damages” and “destructions” caused by the man-made floods. The Lok Sabha election is around the corner and the CPI-M, past masters in the game of election fund collection saw the heavy rains as an opportunity to collect as much cash under the garb of flood relief.

The Marxists stand with egg on their face following the disclosures made by the UAE Government that there never was an offer of $100 million from them.

If there was a main architect of the man-made floods in Kerala it would be the Marxist minister for power M M Mony. It was Mony, who vehemently opposed the opening of the shutters of the dams in Kerala, especially the Idukki and Edamalayar hydro electric projects in spite of advance warnings issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES)[1] about the impending heavy rains which were to ravage the State[2].

Why was Mony near the Idukki Dam, when the water levels were rising? Was it to ensure that the engineers did not open the shutters of the dam? “Had the dams been opened as per the data given by the IMD and the ministry of earth sciences, this flood would not have occurred,” said a senior power systems engineer[3].

The chief minister claimed that the IMD or MOES did not give an advance warning about the rainfall. When confronted with the press notes issued by these bodies, Vijayan was forced to retract from his allegations. Interestingly, the Kerala Government has filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court in response to a PIL by an Idukki resident stating that the unprecedented high level of water in the Mullaperiyar Dam, owned by Tamil Nadu should be brought down[4].

Tamil Nadu government filed a counter to this statement but not before Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy giving a mouthful to his Kerala counterpart for spreading all kinds of canards about the floods. It was to divert the attention of the public from these two setbacks that the Marxist dominated media in Kerala came out with allegations that Prime Minister Modi had refused the $100 million offered to Kerala by the UAE Government.

The Marxists stand with egg on their face following the disclosures made by the UAE Government that there never was an offer of $100 million from them. If a thorough probe is ordered into the factors that led to the delay in the opening of the shutters of more than 40 dams in the State, the CPI-M would be in for major trouble.

The volunteers of World Vision, one of the first evangelical teams to reach the flood affected Kerala came with tonnes and tonnes of Bibles and registration forms for religious conversion

Though there were heavy rains in the second fortnight of the month of July, it had not caused any major floods barring landslides at some high range locations. But the Marxist media aired close up shots of water gushing down the rivers to create an impression that Kerala has fallen prey to a major natural disaster.

What is of concern is that the flood had literally damaged certain areas in the districts of Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Alappuzha, regions close to Periyar River. The floods inflicted maximum damage to places like Chengannur, Thiruvalla, and Aranmula where there is considerable Hindu population. Hundreds of people were caught up in the Aranmula Temple for days because the flood waters had swallowed the roads leading to the temple. But the Kerala Government refused to hand over the rescue and relief operations to the central forces and paid scant regard to the victims who got stranded in the temple as well as in other regions in these places.

The local Marxist leaders, in fact, drove away the volunteers of Seva Bharati (a voluntary rescue team under the RSS who are always the first activists who reach any places coming under natural disasters) and seized all the relief materials brought by the Seva Bharati for the flood victims. This was done allegedly under the instructions of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the secretary of the CPI-M, infamous as a black magician as well as a sorcerer. More details about the rescue and relief drama staged by the Marxist volunteers will soon figure in the PGurus.

The volunteers of World Vision, one of the first evangelical teams to reach the flood affected Kerala came with tonnes and tonnes of Bibles and registration forms for religious conversion[5]. The first life-saving material to land in Kerala was the Bibles! Evangelists came under the garb of disaster relief operators!

People in the field who closely monitored the water level were posting messages in the microblogging sites about the ulterior motives of the CPI-M leaders and the Kerala ministers.

On Sunday early morning (September 1, 2018) Pinarayi Vijayan left for the USA for a medical check-up. One wonders what is in store for Kerala and the CM!

All members of the Kerala cabinet are flying abroad on fund collection drives. Please wait for the detailed report from the countries they are visiting.

[1] Reservoirs not managed using a scientific, decision-support system: M. Rajeevan – Aug 27, 2018, The Hindu

[2] Kerala lacks a flood warning system: Ministry of Earth Sciences – Aug 26, 2018, The Hindu

[3] Dams were 80% full in July – Sep 1, 2018, Indian Express

[4] Kerala blames Tamil Nadu for floods – Aug 24, 2018, The Hindu

[5] Deep State in India? Discussion with Madhu Kishwar – Sep 2, 2018, Facebook page of Rajiv Malhotra