Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday slammed Union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav for blaming illegal habitation and mining for the Wayanad landslides and said that such a statement shows a lack of understanding of the area and the state.

The central minister had on Monday squarely blamed the state government for the landslides by saying unchecked construction and illegal quarrying were the reasons behind the disaster.

Vijayan asked what Yadav meant by “illegal habitation” as local people had lived in the area for decades and built their houses with their hard-earned money. They had not encroached upon any land, he said.

“He (Yadav) had said that illegal habitation, land encroachment and illegal mining with the facilitation of the state government were the reasons behind the landslide in Mundakkai. This is wrong, and with such an allegation he is humiliating the victims of this tragedy,” Vijayan told a media conference on Tuesday.

“Those who lost their lives in the disaster shouldn’t be humiliated like this,” he said.

The Union minister had said the “Wayanad incident is a lesson that illegal mining and illegal habitation can put lives in danger”.

“When we set up habitations and projects in these regions, it is important to understand the soil topography, geomorphology, slope angle and what is the vegetation,” he had said.

Vijayan questioned the rationale behind Yadav’s allegations.

“Was anyone of those poor encroachers? Were the poor estate workers encroachers? They earned their land with their savings,” said Vijayan.

“It is inappropriate for a central minister to label them as encroachers,” he said, adding Yadav wouldn’t have said so “if he had even a little understanding of the land and Kerala’s high ranges”.

“The migration to Kerala’s high ranges has been happening for hundreds of years,” Vijayan said, alluding to how people battled the vagaries of nature and wildlife to eke out a livelihood.

The chief minister also countered Yadav’s illegal mining angle. “His peculiar claim is that the landslide happened because of illegal mining. But what we need to see is that the nearest quarry is 10.2km from Mundakkai.”