Devastating floods in Chennai

Salute the human spirit of Chennaites!

Communist Ghadar Party of India extends its heartfelt sympathies to the people of Chennai who have lost their loved ones, whose homes have been destroyed and who have lost everything they have toiled for, in the deluge that drowned the city during 30th November and 3rd December 2015.

Salute the human spirit of Chennaites!

Communist Ghadar Party of India extends its heartfelt sympathies to the people of Chennai who have lost their loved ones, whose homes have been destroyed and who have lost everything they have toiled for, in the deluge that drowned the city during 30th November and 3rd December 2015.

However, amidst all the disaster that has overwhelmed Chennai city in the past few days, what has stood out in start contrast to the dark news is the spirit of the people of Chennai.

The people of Chennai have simply opened their homes and hearth to any one in need. People who have been fortunate to have a roof over their heads have been unstintingly offering shelter and hospitality to anyone looking for shelter and food.

Impromptu rescue teams have been formed among people, who did not know each other before this tragedy, to help those who were stranded. People with big cars drove through flooded streets rescuing those marooned in the floods.

Volunteers have been cooking food all night and distributing food packets to hungry people who had to wade through swirling waters for miles on their way home.

Doctors and nurses organised themselves in teams to pick up stranded people in their ambulances and distributed packets of food cooked in their hospital mess. The fishermen of Chennai rowed their boats for hours in the flooded streets of the city to rescue those who were stranded. Fishermen-volunteers, some of whom are trained life guards, transported their boats in trucks from the outskirts of the city to flood-hit localities and launched a well-planned rescue operation to save more than 500 people in just one morning.

Hundreds of people posted their addresses online asking anyone who needed help or a temporary shelter to come into their homes. Chennaiites with Internet access offered to recharge phones with talk time for people with no balance or electricity. In fact, such offers have come from Bengaluru and other cities in India, and even from Indians across the world in many countries abroad! They served as a resource centre to enable people to contact their families and friends and people offering assistance. Such timely assistance has saved the lives of several pregnant women.

People did not stop even for a second to wonder who they were helping – is this flood victim a Christian, or a Hindu or a Muslim; or is he a brahmin or does he belong to this or that caste. Chennaites opened their homes to fellow human beings in distress.

Many stories of incredible heroism shown by people during these floods, have come to light.

What has happened in front of our eyes in Chennai shows that helping another who is in need comes naturally to the majority of our people. It has shown the unity of our people, cutting across religion, caste and other barriers.

On the other hand, the unprecedented floods in Chennai have revealed the thoroughly anti social character of the political parties that vie with each other for the loaves of office.

Thus, it has come to light that the ruling AIAIDMK party workers are interrupting distribution of food packets to stamp the Chief Minister’s name on them! Through their control of the major news media in Tamilnadu, the ruling and opposition parties are trying to score points over one another, even during these moments of calamity when it would be expected of them to forget their rivalry and come together to assist the people.

The state machinery has shown itself to be unwilling and incapable of fulfilling its basic duty of protecting the people. The conditions for such a huge calamity have been created by successive governments which blatantly ensured that building norms were openly flouted to benefit big builders. When the disaster stuck, people were more or less left to fend for themselves. From every flood affected village and colony in Chennai and other flood affected districts, the common cry has been — where are the political leaders and officials? Why are they nowhere to be seen, when we need their assistance the most?

If the state machinery were really geared to protect the lives of people in the face of calamities, the people of the flood devastated districts would have seen a sincere all round planned relief effort, and many more lives would have been saved. 

The Chennai floods have exposed that in the present system, those in power are not accountable to the people. Nobody in authority will be punished for willfully destroying the natural channels for flood waters to drain out, or for their utter callousness and neglect of the people during the floods. Instead, various parties of the ruling class, both those in power and those in opposition, will now come out once again to disrupt the unity of the people. They will try to provoke splits based on political affiliation, religion or language or caste.

The people of Chennai must reject such attempts. They must remain united in spirit and action to deal with the after-effects of this colossal disaster, building further on the same spirit that enabled them to live through it.

Chennai floods show the tremendous capacity of the people to help one another — and in contrast, the complete lack of interest and capacity on the part of the State to protect and assist every victim of the floods.

Communist Ghadar Party of India salutes the people of Chennai for their unselfish and generous spirit.

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