Odisha Balasore Train Accident Live Updates: You ask them anything, they will pass the blame, Rahul attacks govt – The Economic Times
Odisha Balasore Train Accident Live Updates: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out the BJP-led government at the Centre over the Odisha triple train accident, claiming that the only ideology that it espouses is to make excuses not accept the reality. The horrific collision and derailment, involving two passenger trains and a goods train, claimed the lives of 275 passengers and left over 1,000 injured.
Addressing the Indian diaspora in New York as part of his ongoing visit to the US, Rahul on Monday said in the wake of a similar train tragedy when the Congress was in power at the Centre, the then minister in charge of the Railways had owned moral responsibility and resigned. “I remember a train accident when the Congress party was in power. The Congress did not say that the train crashed because of the fault of the British. The Congress minister (in charge of the Railways ministry at the time) said, ‘It’s my responsibility and I’m resigning’. So, this is the problem we have back home, we make excuses and do not accept the reality,” the Congress leader said.
Rahul claimed further that the BJP was in the habit of not owning up to his mistakes and shift the blame, instead, to the Congress when questioned.
“You ask them (BJP) anything, they will look back and pass the blame. Ask them how the Odisha train accident happened. They will talk about what the Congress did 50 years ago,” the Congress leader added.
The triple train accident involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Coromandel Express and the goods train on three separate tracks at Bahanaga Bazar station in the Balasore district of Odisha. Earlier, on Sunday, Rahul said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately seek the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in light of the Balasore train tragedy.
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“You ask them anything, they will pass the blame”: Rahul flays govt
- Rahul Gandhi criticized the BJP-led government at the Centre over the Odisha triple train accident, claiming that the only ideology that it espouses is to make excuses not accept the reality.
- The horrific collision and derailment, involving two passenger trains and a goods train, claimed the lives of 275 passengers and left over 1,000 injured. Addressing the Indian diaspora in New York as part of his ongoing visit to the US, Rahul on Monday said in the wake of a similar train tragedy when the Congress was in power at the Centre, the then minister in charge of the Railways had owned moral responsibility and resigned.
- “I remember a train accident when the Congress party was in power. The Congress did not say that the train crashed because of the fault of the British. The Congress minister (in charge of the Railways ministry at the time) said, ‘It’s my responsibility and I’m resigning’. So, this is the problem we have back home, we make excuses and do not accept the reality,” the Congress leader said.
- Rahul claimed further that the BJP was in the habit of not owning up to his mistakes and shift the blame, instead, to the Congress when questioned.
- “You ask them (BJP) anything, they will look back and pass the blame. Ask them how the Odisha train accident happened. They will talk about what the Congress did 50 years ago,” the Congress leader added.
World stood by our side at time of tragedy: EAM Jaishankar on Odisha accident
- External Affairs Minister SJaishankar said on Sunday the condolence messages and the outpouring ofsuppot that he received in the wake of the horrific train accident inOdisha shows how connected the world is with India.
- “A lot of leaders from all over the world and the foreign minister fromhere [Namibia] also has expressed solidarity and sent sympathy,” EAMJaishankar said while addressing the Indian diaspora in Namibia onSunday.
- “I received many messages and foreign ministers and friends from acrossthe world. The Prime Minister also received lots of messages. This is anexample of how globalised today’s world is and how the world isconnected with India,” he said further.
- “A tragedy happened in India and the world decided to stand withIndia,” the EAM added.
Odisha: Train services resume on both lines in Balasore; Vaishnaw prays for safe journey
- Railways Minister AshwiniVaishnaw on Sunday waved at the crew of a goods train and prayed for asafe journey, as services resumed following repair of the damaged trackson both the up and down lines, 51 hours after the horrific triple trainaccident in Balasore left 275 dead and more than 1,000 injured.
- Speaking to ANI on Sunday, the Railways minister said work onreconstruction of the damaged tracks started soon after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi sent out instructions to that effect.
- “Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his advice and instructions on therestoration of the railway tracks. The whole team (involved in therestoration work) laboured diligently and systematically to fix thedamaged rails for the resumption of services,” he said.
Balasore train accident: Mamata questions official death toll
- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday questioned the death figures given by the Ministry of Railways in the triple train crash in Odisha’s Balasore, stating that 61 people from her state were dead and 182 were still missing. Banerjee also asked questions on whether Vande Bharat engines were up to the mark.
- “If from one state, 182 are missing and 61 are confirmed dead, then where would the figures stand?” she asked, addressing a press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna. The Odisha government on Sunday revised the triple train accident’s death toll to 275 from 288, and put the number of injuries at 1,175.
- According to Odisha Chief Secretary P K Jena, some bodies were counted twice. “After detailed verification and a report by Balasore District Collector, the final toll has been fixed at 275,” he said.
- Jena said 88 bodies have been identified so far and 78 handed over to their families, while 187 were yet to be identified.
- Three trains— Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah super fast and a goods train — were involved in Friday’s accident, now being described as one of India’s worst train accidents.
Odisha rail tragedy: Cong demands Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s resignation; slams PM Modi
- The Congress demanded the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over the Odisha rail tragedy and attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he should accept part of the responsibility for creating an “all is well” facade even as the critical infrastructure of the Indian Railway “languishes in neglect”.
- The Opposition party asked whether the prime minister will take responsibility for the “deadliest rail tragedy” of this century. It also asked who is responsible for ignoring the warnings and suggestions of experts, the parliamentary committee and CAG report.
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that Modi was busy flagging off trains while not paying attention to railway safety.
- He called for fixing accountability of all posts from top to bottom to prevent such incidents in future.
- Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi too slammed the government and said the prime minister should immediately seek the resignation of the railway minister.
- “No accountability even after 270 plus deaths! The Modi government cannot run away from taking responsibility for such a painful accident,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
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