News Tamil Nadu

How Media & Dravidianist Mouthpieces Tried To Change The Narrative To Cover Up The Failures Of The DMK Govt; Netizens Call Out Hypocrisy Of All Involved

December 5, 2023
The Commune

The Michaung Cyclone has caused severe devastation to the residents of Chennai with flooding occurring in almost the entire city. While it is expected of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s mouthpieces and supporters to pretend as if the government is doing amazing work, other media channels have also been playing the same tune. From talking about the rains as “unprecedented” to blaming the “high tide” for the flooding to reporting how hot samosas were being sold during the rains and floods, tv news channels were blatantly buttressing the ruling government to help cover up their failures.

Here are the various reasons attributed to the rainfall and the reason why the city was inundated yet again. First, they said it was unprecedented rainfall level and then they said it was the worst ever seen in 47 years!

Then they blamed the “high tide”. Leading this narrative was The News Minute’s Shabbir Ahmed.

What Was The Media Focusing On?

Of all the updates they could give, channels like Puthiya Thalaimurai shared some really valuable information about the closure of TASMAC outlets in the 4 districts where the cyclone was wrecking havoc.

They also reported about the “fishing” expeditions of people during the cyclone.

News18 Tamil Nadu also ensured people were aware where to get “hot samosas” from.

They also shared videos of “rapidly receding rainwater”.

Comparing 2015 And 2023

One part of the narrative setting was to compare the 2015 floods with the 2023 floods. Since the 2015 floods occurred during the AIADMK regime under J Jayalalithaa, the Dravidianists ensured that this comparison had to be made to make the present government look like they were doing a better job.

Justifying The ₹4000 Crore Project

Dravidianists also made sure that the ₹4000 crore stormwater drain project was justified.

The Chief Minister of the state, MK Stalin also said that the level of devastation was less because of the implementation of the 4000 crore project!

As usual, the DMK IT Wing was projecting the government in good light by sharing videos of the TN CM Stalin visiting relief camps.

DMK mouthpiece Sun News also shared datapoints showcasing how the present government handled the floods compared to 2015. They wrote, “Even when experiencing unprecedented floods, the impact is lesser than in the past. Compared to 2015, the amount of rain caused by cyclone Michaung was more. Even though there was a major flood in Chennai, due to the precautionary measures taken by the Tamil Nadu government, the casualties and damages have been reduced to a great extent. 199 people died in the 2015 floods. But now only 9 people have died even though it rained more than 2015.”

Blamed The IMD For Not Predicting The Amount Of Rainfall To Be Expected

Puthiya Thalaimurai carried an interview of G Sundarrajan, an “environmental activist” who is also in the DMK government’s climate action committee. He was recently in the news for spreading fake news linking Adani to the Silkyara tunnel collapse blames the IMD for not predicting the amount of rainfall to be expected.

Did Weather Blogger Pradeep John Fudge Data?

Political commentator Kishore Swamy alleged that weather blogger Pradeep John who was seen in the press meeting with other DMK ministers manipulated the 36 hours’ rain data with 24 hours’ rain data and justified that the present establishment is better. It is noteworthy that Pradeep shot to fame during the 2015 floods.

What Was The Reality Like?

In reality, the city was inundated like no other. Areas that had never been flooded even during the 2015 floods like Annanagar, Madambakkam etc which do not flood during the monsoon season, were all inundated and water had entered most of the ground floor homes by 4 December 2023. Kollywood actor Vishal who took to social media platform X shared his plight from his Annanagar home. He said, “During such rains, we all know what will happen and is happening. First they switch off the power, then waterlogging starts on the streets and then it enters homes. I am in Annanagar and water has entered my home. If this is the state of Annanagar, then imagine how it will be in low-lying areas. In 2015, we were able to help others as much as possible, but after 8 years, the situation is even worse. They announced a stormwater drain project, I am not able to find anything related to that – when was it started, when did they finish it, I have no idea. This is a request as a voter in the state, all MLAs from Chennai, please come out of your homes and have a look at the city and do whatever your constituency needs. This is not a political remark, this is a remark against the waterlogging problem. Even for a small rain, water gets logged in T Nagar but this time the entire city is waterlogged and it is a disgusting and embarrassing situation we are in. Please take immediate measures for resolving this.”

Even Kollywood actor Vishnu Vishal posted from his home in Karapakkam on 5 December 2023 that they did not receive any help.

Poes Garden, one of the posh areas of Chennai also saw crumbling infrastructure.

City centre, Mount Road was not far behind.

In this video, a resident from Chief Minister Stalin’s constituency, Kolathur, says in the past 30-40 years, water has never inundated our homes but this is how it is now.

The city was totally in the dark for more than 24 hours starting from late Sunday night, 3 December 2023. Some of the videos that were circulated in the internet for the past couple of days include videos of cars getting washed away by the flood.

Citizens Questioned Their Absent MPs

Amidst all this, citizens questioned their MPs. It is noteworthy that Chennai’s representatives in the Lok Sabha are all from the DMK. Be it Dayanidhi Maran or Thamizhachi Thangapandian from South Chennai which was the worst affected of the lot.

Some netizens reshared old tweets of Udhayanidhi Stalin from 2020.

Underprepared Then And Now

As netizens pointed out, no lessons have been learnt from 2015 or the previous instances of heavy rains. The city and government was unprepared for 2015 as well as for 2023.

In addition to all this, the Tamil Nadu government was seen making a demand of ₹5000 crores to the central government as relief funds for the devastation due to the cyclone.

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