Railway line turns tombstone of several political careers

JAMMU, DEC 2: The proposed 340-km long Udhampur-Baramulla railway line appears to be jinxed in view of it having become the tombstone of the political careers of many a politician, including four Prime Ministers who had laid the foundation stone of the prestigious project during the last 14 years.

Prime Minister I K Gujral is being seen by many in the state as the latest victim of this jinxed project. He had to resign from the office only four months after he laid the foundation stones of the rail line at Qazigund July 24, and Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley on July 25 this year. Originally conceived in 1890s by Maharaja Partap Singh, and revived in 1983 by Indira Gandhi, the 100-year old prestigious project still leads to nowhere. Prior to Gujral, those having performed the same ritual in connection with the railway line included Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Deve Gowda, besides Suresh Kalmadi (former Railway Minister). All were out of office soon after the foundation stone was laid.

Sources said Indira Gandhi was the first among them to lay the foundation stone in Udhampur on April 14, 1983. She had announced that the railway line between Jammu and Udhampur would be laid within five years and thereafter it would be extended to Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley. But she was assassinated on October 31, 1984.

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Her son and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the track for the second time in the same town in 1986. He was out of power after his party’s rout during the 1989 Lok Sabha polls. He was assassinated in 1991. Suresh Kalmadi was the third to perform the same ritual at Udhampur in 1995 and he was out of office after a few months.

Gowda also laid the foundation stone of the project at Udhampur on March 15 this year. However, Gowda resigned from office after his government lost the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha in April this year.