Overview

• NDRF, SDRF, Indian Army and ITBP teams have been conducting evacuations by land and air under heavy rain and rugged Himalayan terrain
• Ex-SP MP S.T. Hasan reiterated that the flash floods represented divine justice for alleged demolitions of religious sites and blamed deforestation for worsening disasters
• BJP leaders Praveen Khandelwal, Pradeep Bhandari, Shehzad Poonawalla and Danish Azad Ansari condemned Hasan’s remarks as baseless attempts to communalize a natural calamity
• Congress figures Harish Rawat, Udit Raj and MP Imran Masood criticised the comments as superstitious and urged reliance on scientific explanations
• Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi and other Muslim clerics described the Uttarkashi floods as a natural calamity and called for compassion and unity in relief efforts