While the Uttarakhand Government led by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna struggled to start the rescue and relief work in the disaster-stricken areas of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Uttarkashi etc, Gujarat CM Narendra Modi scored a point over his critics and rivals by showing his ‘management’ skills, as he managed to rescue 15,000 Gujaratis and send them home in just 48 hours. It was reported by the Times of India.
Armed with five IAS, one IPS, one IFS and two GAS (Gujarat Administrative Service) officers, two DSPs and five police inspectors, Modi landed in Dehradun and made an aerial survey of worst-affected areas. Modi’t team used 80 Toyota Innovas, four Boeings and 25 luxury buses to ferry the rescued people to Delhi and Ahmedabad. Modi also took several helpless Gujaratis in his chartered plane. In addition, he also set up a medical relief camp in Haridwar to help the people in distress.
Bringing further embarrassment to the Centre and Congress government in Uttarakhand, Modi offered to rebuild the temple at Kedarnath using the latest technology to counter natural disaster. However, Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna rejected his offer, thanks to political compulsions.
While the BJP leaders and members of ‘Team Modi’ sought to justify the ‘Modi Model’, saying it can work outside Gujarat too, the angry Congress leaders such as Manish Tewari and Digvijaya Singh lashed out at Narendra Modi and accused him of playing politics over the dead bodies.