The recent mine tragedy in Meghalaya has taken the nation by storm. 13-15 workers got trapped as of now in a ‘rat hole’ illegal coal mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills after the river water came gushing in. They’re awaiting their rescue as the rescuers from the state government and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are jointly carrying out the operations in full swing.
It is been almost two weeks since the operations are on, and so far, limited success has been achieved, with only one to two survivors being rescued from the site. However, that didn’t stop Congress President Rahul Gandhi from ‘showing his concern’ for the trapped miners, as he posted the following tweet:-
15 miners have been struggling for air in a flooded coal mine for two weeks.
Meanwhile, PM struts about on Bogibeel Bridge posing for cameras.
His government refuses to organise high pressure pumps for the rescue.
PM please save the miners. https://t.co/STZS62vTp4
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 26, 2018
According to this tweet, Rahul Gandhi criticized the Central Government for not doing enough in terms of rescuing the trapped miners. He also took a sly dig at PM Modi, who was recently in Arunachal Pradesh for inaugurating the iconic rail cum road bridge at ‘Bogibeel’, by saying that PM Modi had time for photo ops, but not for rescuing miners. If shamelessly lying was a sport at the Olympics, Rahul Gandhi would’ve been the undisputed champion at it.
Without even looking into the complexities of the case, Rahul Gandhi not only declared PM Modi guilty of not rescuing the miners but also demonized the Central Government in a sly reference. It looks like after a long holiday in Shimla, Rahul Gandhi is back to his seasonal activism.
Ever since BJP suffered a setback in MP, Chattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the Congress President is emboldened, as he has increased his spate of absurd lies on Twitter, practicing the shoot and scoot politics where only the CM of Delhi, i.e. Arvind Kejriwal can match him.
However, his hit job backfired rather badly, when the CM of Meghalaya, Shri Conrad Sangma, himself tweeted the current situation, demolishing Rahul’s bubble fame:-
NDRF and State Government have been continuously working on the rescue ops. scale of the operation is a major challenge as water from a river has entered the mines. GOI was very prompt in sending their best people to help in the rescues ops.. @narendramodi @PMOIndia @KirenRijiju
— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) December 26, 2018
While the CM of Meghalaya clarified the actual position, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, not only supported his stance but also went hammer and tongs after Rahul Gandhi, posting the following tweet:-
No politics on tragedy please @RahulGandhi ji. We have been helping the State Govt with all possible means. But the unsafe illegal minining activities were due to the negligence of the previous Congress govt. https://t.co/X5LhBrOYuA
— Kiren Rijiju (मोदी का परिवार) (@KirenRijiju) December 26, 2018
Kiren Rijiju is not far from the truth either. Going by the tweets of Rahul Gandhi, it is certain that he is a reluctant politician, who doesn’t want to learn from his mistakes at all. It is surprising that the Congress President is trying to blame the government and hasn’t even completed a single year for an illegal practice, that was going on for years despite a ban issued by the National Green Tribunal in 2014. Interestingly, it was the Congress government that was in power for all these years between 2014– 2018, and yet, the coal mafia operated in full swing. It appears as if Kiren Rijiju has nicely schooled Rahul Gandhi on his premature remark.
To quote Angela Rangad, an activist working against illegal ‘rat hole’ mining, “Illegal coal mining has continued over the years despite 2014 ban. Last month, Ms. Kharsiing and Amita Sangma were attacked brutally for exposing fresh coal mining. This incident was not only about transportation of coal, but also fresh extraction.”
As such, Rahul Gandhi should be the last person to blame PM Modi for the mismanagement of his own Congress Party, which wreaked havoc in the entire North East, before their defeat in Assam in 2016 triggered their downfall in all the states situated in North eastern India.