While Celebrating The Patriotic Spirit Of Assam, Let Us Not Forget The Grim Flood Situation There

This is arguably one of the most shared images on social media in the past two days. Four people including two children who are almost neck deep in water saluting the tricolour hoisted on the occasion of India's 71st Independence Day.

The man who hoisted the flag is Tazem Sikder, the headmaster of a government run Naskara lower primary school in Dhubri, Assam. Others seen in the picture are Mizanur Rahman, a teacher along with Jiarul Ali Khan and Haider Ali Khan, two Class 3 students.

The image shared by Mizanur Rahman was an instant hit on Tuesday as the nation celebrated Independence Day.

Others too shared images from various parts of Assam where people 'celebrated' Independence Day amid heavy flooding across the state.

ANI

They too were widely circulated across various social media platforms lauding the patriotic spirit of the Assamese people. But many seemed to have failed to notice one prominent thing in all those images -- the flood waters.

Reuters

Assam is currently in the middle of a catastrophic flood, the second flood in less than a month, which has left 33 lakh people displaced and 1.83 lakh hectares of standing crops inundated. 28 people have been killed across the state in the second leg of floodings taking the total death toll this year to 112 so far.

Reuters

Thirty-three lakh people were affected in 25 districts, including Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta and Bongaigaon. Dhemaji district in upper Assam is the worst-hit where nearly one lakh people were affected. Flood water is flowing over the roofs of houses in many areas.

As flood waters were flowing over National Highway 37, communication between upper and lower Assam have snapped. Vehicles were stranded on the highway and being diverted via Nagaland.

Reuters

Kaziranga National Park, which is home to a large population of rhinos, elephants, tigers, wild buffalos and eastern swamp deer have also been hit badly by the flood, with an estimated 85 per cent of the reserve under water.

This is the worst deluge the north eastern state has witnessed in nearly three decades.

The current flooding is adding to the woes of the state which was almost brought to its knees by heavy rains last month.

The first wave of floods between April and July claimed 85 lives and affected about 19 lakh people in the state.

At least 107 animals, including seven rhinos, died in last month's flood in Kaziranga.

PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had come under heavy criticism after he rushed to his home state Gujarat, to assess the flood there while ignoring Assam.

He finally visited the state early this month, by the time the initial flood waters had begun receding.