The Wayanad landslide tragedy serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of ignoring environmental warnings
In India, we’ve developed a bad habit of politicising everything, from festivities to tragedies, using every opportunity for one-upmanship against opponents. Indeed, the tragic landslide in Wayanad, Kerala, that claimed life of more than 170 people is being used as a slingshot to score brownie points. It has triggered a heated political exchange between State and Central Government leaders. The tragedy, which resulted in significant loss of life and property, has brought to the forefront the critical issue of disaster preparedness and environmental stewardship. Following the landslide, Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the State had received an early warning but failed to take necessary preventive measures. He criticised the State Government for the negligence, suggesting that more lives could have been saved with timely action. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan quickly refuted Shah’s claims, asserting that the State Government had acted on all available warnings and had undertaken necessary measures to mitigate the impact. Vijayan emphasised that the unprecedented intensity of the landslide was beyond what the early warnings had predicted and that the state’s disaster response teams had worked tirelessly to manage the situation. This spat achieved nothing; neither relief for the people injured nor a plan of action to stop such incidents in the future. But yes, both the Central and State Governments gave themselves a clean chit, and that was the end of it.