Congress keeps attack on hold, others in Opposition say Govt must own up

“We have many questions to ask of the Prime Minister and the Railway Minister but those can wait since the immediate task is of rescue and relief,” said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, a former railway minister himself. The Congress chief asked his party’s leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and AICC in-charge of Odisha A Chella Kumar to visit the accident site.

Calling the accident a matter of the greatest anguish, Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh said it “reinforces why safety should always be the foremost priority in the functioning of the rail network”. “There are many legitimate questions that need to be raised but that should wait till tomorrow,” he said.

AICC media department head Pawan Khera said the party has decided not to participate in any television debates Saturday evening on account of the tragedy. “This is the time to  come together and stand by the grieving families,” he said.

Other parties, some of whose leaders have themselves been former railway ministers, took on PM Modi and demanded that Vaishnaw own up and resign as the Railway Minister.

RJD chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav tweeted: “There was major negligence. They have destroyed Railways… Who is this country’s Railway Minister? Nobody knows. But everybody knows who has scrapped the rail budget and flags off trains to boost his image…Who is responsible for such a big rail accident.”

TMC leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien posted a video clip of the Prime Minister on Twitter and said, “saddened as we mourn the dead, say a silent prayer for 300 grieving families and wish the injured recover soon. Also furious. On 25 May 2023, just a week ago, the PM made this idle (political) boast about how ‘real work to change railways started only after 2014.’”

O’ Brien’s colleague Abhishek Banerjee said in a Facebook post: “Despite technological advancements, on the one hand the government resorts to software such as Pegasus to spy on opposition leaders, SC judges, journalists but on the other hand neglects to implement GPS and anti-collision devices to prevent unfortunate incidents.”

“Over one hundred lives have been lost and the Prime Minister bears a considerable amount of responsibility… the Railway Minister should resign. NOW!,” Abhishek wrote.

The CPM said “serious questions on matters concerning railway safety… cannot be ignored in the plans for ‘modernization’ by the Modi government.” “Many railway ministers have in the past resigned after accidents, owning moral responsibility. Under the Modi government such political morality has been non-existent,”  said CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

The CPI also demanded that Vaishnaw quit. “Government concentrates only on luxury trains. Trains and tracks of common people are neglected. Orissa deaths are the result of it. Rail minister should resign,” CPI MP Binoy Viswam said.

BSP chief Mayawati, AAP MP Sanjay Singh and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi too raised questions on railway safety. “Heads must roll,” Chaturvedi said.