Flood victims fortunate to have Ganga at doorstep, says Lalu
PATNA: Nothing — not even a devastating flood on the Ganga that has affected over five lakh people in Bihar — could stop a loose cannon like Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad.
During a visit to flood-hit riverine area in Fatuha and Bakhtiarpur blocks of Patna on Tuesday, the RJD chief gave welcome bytes in his inimitable style to the audio-visual media that he believes “it’s fortunate and welcome sight to find the Ganga at one’s doorsteps”.
Instead of getting any aid, the bruised and the marooned people awaiting relief in the flood-hit field ended up listening to the sermons from Prasad, who was accompanied by his son and Bihar health minister Tej Pratap Yadav. “You are fortunate that the Ganga has reached your homes. It does not always happen. In most cases you go to it,” he said facing a handful of news channel booms.
Perhaps, the RJD chief ’s jibe was aimed at the BJP, which recently came up with a scheme for making Gangajal available to people at their doorsteps through post offices.
However, Prasad did not stop there. He extolled the virtues of Gangajal and how difficult it was to get its “pure” nature these days. “Who gets pure Gangajal these days? In the last one decade, the Ganga has moved away from us. It has now returned,” he said, as the locals looked on in confusion.
But when cornered by the media over his statement, Prasad amended his statement, describing the floods as a ‘divine calamity’ as he took stock of the relief and rescue operations.
“The situation is worse than 1975 floods. There is extensive damage to crops and it would be assessed for proper relief,” he added.