BJP panelist resigns over Centre’s neglect of flood-hit state

Parminder Mehta, former councillor and media panelist for the Punjab BJP, resigned from the party on the pretext that the Centre has not extended help to Punjab during the ongoing floods.

While addressing a press meet, Mehta said the state was currently facing a serious crisis due to widespread flooding, with no area left unaffected by the deluge. While many people are helping flood victims in their own way, it’s unfortunate that the Central Government has adopted a stepmotherly attitude towards Punjab in the crisis.

For over a month, the people of the state, especially in border districts adjacent to HP and Uttarakhand, have been devastated first by the Ravi and Beas and now by the Sutlej, which has engulfed other districts as well. The Centre should have extended a helping hand to Punjab from the beginning and stood in solidarity with the country’s ‘annadata’ (food provider).

The BJP leader expressed that the Centre posted condolences for earthquake victims in Afghanistan and visited Jammu to assess the damage and provide relief to flood-hit residents. However, despite crops worth crores of rupees being destroyed in Punjab, many houses collapsed, land washed away, household goods ruined, livestock lost and many lives taken away by the floods, not a single word of sorrow has been expressed. Mehta made a heartfelt appeal to Punjabis and residents of other states, in the country and abroad, to rise above politics and come forward to support this holy land.