Congress Blasts Centre For Failing To Provide Adequate Trains For Chhath Puja
New Delhi, October 25: Taking serious note of the huge difficulties faced by people from Bihar to travel back home for the holy Chhath puja, due to paucity of trains, the Congress today lashed out at the central government, the Ministry of Railways in particular, for misleading the nation.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here today, senior party leaders including Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Abhay Dubey played the visuals of people having to travel in train toilets due to non-availability of seats in the trains. There was complete chaos and anarchy in the trains, they alleged.
Akhilesh Prasad Singh referred to the government’s claims of running 12,000 trains for the festival from different parts of the country to Bihar, saying, this was a total farce as there were only 13,452 total trains operating in the country. He said, had that been the case, the people of Bihar would not have to face such difficulties in reaching back their home for the holy Chhath puja.
He said, this proved like another hoax of the BJP government, which has survived on lies and nothing else. He added that contrary to the claims made by Prime Minister Modi and the Railways Minister about running 12,000 special trains, the Railways is now talking about operating only 1,500 special trains for Diwali and Chhath Puja. He said, while the BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and others were traveling in luxury planes and choppers to campaign in Bihar elections, common Biharis were being made to travel in the train toilets.
Speaking on the occasion, Abhay Dubey said, the BJP government at the Centre and the NDA government in Bihar had failed to provide jobs to people in the state. As a result, he noted, people were forced to migrate to different parts of the country for work and livelihood. And when they wanted to return home for the sacred Chhath puja, the government could not even provide them with proper train travel facilities, he pointed out. He added that people did not want free train travel and were ready to pay, yet the government could not arrange sufficient trains.
Dubey alleged that this amounted to disrespect for the sacred faith of the people of Bihar, as the government had failed to do even the bare minimum to ensure they could travel home and perform the puja. He said, this was a cruel joke on the people of Bihar and that too in the name of sacred Chhath puja.
