New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh Friday submitted a notice to move a privilege motion against Union Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging that he “misled” the Rajya Sabha by his emphatic statements on early warnings issued by the Centre to the Kerala government ahead of the Wayanad landslides “which have been proven to be false”.
Ramesh, who is the Congress’ chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, said in his letter to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar that in his response to a Calling Attention on the Wayanad landslides in the Rajya Sabha on July 31, 2024, the home minister made several claims on early warning systems and how they were not utilized by the Kerala government inspite of alerts issued by the Union government well ahead of the tragedy.
“These claims have been extensively fact-checked in the media. One such detailed fact-check published in The Hindu dated August 2, 2024 is attached,” Ramesh said in his letter, which was also signed by Congress’ deputy leader in the House Pramod Tiwari and senior leader Digvijaya Singh.
“It is clear that the Union home minister misled the Rajya Sabha by his emphatic statements on early warnings issued by the Union government which have been proven to be false,” Ramesh said.
It is well established that misleading the House by a minister or a member constitutes a breach of privilege and contempt of the House, the Congress leader pointed out.
“Under these circumstances, we submit that privilege proceedings may be initiated against the Union home minister in this matter,” Ramesh said.
Shah had on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the Centre had sent multiple advance warnings, starting as early as July 23, to the Kerala government about possible floods and landslide, and nine NDRF teams were rushed to the state the same day.
However, the Kerala government did not heed to the advance warnings and also did not get alert even by the arrival of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) battalions, Shah said in the Rajya Sabha while intervening in the short duration calling attention motion on the Wayanad landslide tragedy.
IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra Thursday said the India Meteorological Department issued regular forecasts for significant rainfall activity along the west coast of India and a red alert for Kerala in the early morning of July 30, the day Wayanad district was hit by landslides that killed more than 150 people.
Responding to Shah’s claim, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said on Wednesday that the IMD had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides.
However, he said that the district received over 572 mm of rainfall, which was significantly higher than what was predicted by the IMD.
PTI