Arnab Goswami urges Central Govt to declare Assam flood as a "national calamity"

Guwahati: Arnab Goswami, the face of Republic television, has urged the Government of India to declare the Assam flood situation as a "national calamity."

"The widespread devastation should be a wake-up call for the Central Government to declare the Assam floods as a national problem. Because the people of the state suffer year after year after year", Goswami proclaimed live on-air in an episode of his rating juggernaut, 'The Debate with Arnab Goswami.'

"The demand for declaring the Assam flood as a national problem has been there since the Accord was signed in 1985", Arnab Goswami said, recalling the tenets of the signing of the historic Assam Accord, signed at the end of a 6-year long agitation to remove alleged 'Bangladeshi foreigners' from Assamese soil. The media personality also pointed out that the demand (to declare Assam floods as a 'national calamity) is "pertinent" and 40 years old.

Goswami further stated that the Kerala flood was "rightly" tagged as a national calamity in 2018 by the Indian Government. "Why is the same treatment not being given to Assam?", he queried.

The demand for the declaration of the recurring floods in Assam as a "national problem" by the Central Government is a long-cherished dream of many the indigenous people of the state. The All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU), for instance, recently wrote to the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi, to declare the floods as a "national problem". The student body has also appealed to the Government to release a package of Rs. 10,000 crore for a "long-term" solution to the recurring problem.

Meanwhile, flooding and erosion that usually follow monsoon rains in Assam have caused 87 deaths across the state. This time, the COVID-19 situation has added to the woes of the Assam Government that is fighting the COVID-19 virus with limited resources.  Kaziranga National Park, the home of the one-horned rhinoceros, has been almost completely inundated by floodwaters. Click HERE for more details

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