Pinarayi Vijayan says ‘disrespect’ shown to rescue worker’s body reflects UDF government’s ‘uncaring’ flood response

Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday (August 8, 2026) said the “disrespect” shown by authorities to the body of R. Rajesh, the 36-year-old rescue volunteer during the flood at Cherupuzha in Kannur, was emblematic of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s “uncaring response” to the flood-affected people in Kerala. 

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Mr. Vijayan said Rajesh’s mortal remains putrified en route to his family home in Thiruvananthapuram due to the government’s failure to commandeer an ambulance kitted out with a mobile freezer. The fiasco smacked of contempt for the brave heart who had sacrificed his life to save fellow citizens from the gushing flood waters.

“Emergency workers took three days to locate Rajesh’s body. The decomposition had set in by then. Any humane administration would have followed the basic protocol to embalm the body and ensure a dignified transport to Rajesh’s family home”, he added. Mr. Vijayan said the government’s unconcern further traumatised Rajesh’s bereaved family. 

He said the inordinate delay in rescuing fishers lost at sea during stormy weather at Neendakara in Kollam and at Anchuthengu and Pulluvila near Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram was reflective of the government’s apathy to the coastal population. “The Fisheries Minister has not visited the affected people”, he added. 

“The bereaved families are up in arms against the government for its passiveness in coordinating search operations, including the commandeering of speed boats and helicopters. The coastal community’s indignation is evident in the continuing protests against the government. The families are yet to get emotional closure,” he added. 

Mr. Vijayan said the floods caught the government unprepared. The government failed to give a warning about the inclement weather. It made no preparations to mitigate the climate change-spurred extreme weather event that spread havoc across Kerala, including along its coastline. 

Mr. Vijayan said that, with hindsight, the collapse of a large mound of excavated mud at the entrance of the twin tunnel project was a forerunner to the botched disaster prediction and management by the UDF government. “The government could have saved lives if it had heeded the weather warning and removed the precariously heaped mud from the spot in advance”, he added.

Mr. Vijayan said the UDF government preferred to indulge in divisive politics during a crisis. “It disinvited opposition legislators from flood crisis management meetings, including U. Jenish Kumar, CPI(M) legislator from Pathanamthitta. The UDF failed to resurrect the mass voluntary involvement that helped Kerala survive the catastrophic floods in 2018 and 2019 and the Wayanad landslide”, he added. 

Mr. Vijayan said thousands of residents accommodated in hundreds of rain relief camps lacked basic bed and board facilities, hot food, doctors and medical attention. “Ministers have avoided relief camps fearing public wrath”, he said.