Mayawati says Modi government ignoring Kerala

Lucknow : Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Tuesday accused the Modi government of giving a step-motherly treatment to flood-hit Kerala and demanded that the calamity be declared a "national disaster".

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said in a statement that despite the magnitude of the crisis, Kerala was not given adequate help by the central government.

This was done because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was playing politics even in such testing times for Keralites, she said.

The BSP leader said that Kerala was suffering huge losses, both of life and property, in the worst floods in nearly a century.

But despite demands for more funds and help, the central government was turning a blind eye to the crisis. "The BSP condemns in the harshest words such petty politics by the central government and the BJP."

Giving up on its biased approach, the NDA government should instead provide more assistance, funds, relief and help in the rehabilitation process in the state, she said.

"At a time when millions of individuals are doing something or the other to help those in crisis in Kerala, the union government should also come forward with a positive mindset."

She said it was unfortunate that while the union government was not declaring the Kerala floods a national disaster, it was not even approving the levying of a cess under state GST as sought by the Kerala government.

Mayawati directed her party cadres and office bearers, specially in south India, to extend all possible help to those affected by the floods in Kerala which have claimed hundreds of lives, caused widespread destruction and left thousands without homes.