New Delhi Stampede: Congress Demands Rail Minister Vaishnav’s Resignation
New Delhi, February 16: The Congress today demanded immediate resignation of the union Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav over the death of 18 people during a stampede at New Delhi railway station on Saturday night.
The party expressed profound condolences with the bereaved families saying that the lives were lost due to the criminal negligence of the government.
“Rail minister Ashwani Vaishnav must resign with immediate effect”, Congress spokesperson and Chairperson of the Social and Digital Media Platforms Ms Supriya Shrinate told a press conference at the party office here today.
“This is not an accident but mass murder”, she remarked, while adding, the railway minister does not have any moral right to stay in his position after last night’s deadly incident that left 18 innocent and helpless people dead.
The senior Congress leader blamed the failure of railway administration for the deaths. She pointed out, while quoting the railway figures, that about 1500 general tickets were issued every hour yesterday at the New Delhi railway station. She asked, why did not the railway authorities make proper arrangements for managing the crowds. She asked, how many RPF or the Delhi police personnel were deployed, and why were the Disaster Management teams not deputed?
Ms Shrinate expressed shock over the way the railway minister Vaishnav was trying to cover up things and hide the casualty figures. She said, instead of owning up the responsibility and showing sensitivity towards the victims and their families, the railway minister was resorting to cover up and people themselves were being blamed for the stampede.
She remarked that when people were narrating the tales of tragedy and trauma, the authorities were trying to intimidate the journalists and asking them to delete the recordings in a blatant attempt to cover up everything.
The senior Congress leader observed that had the railways made proper arrangements and run sufficient trains, last night’s incident could have been averted. She said the government had completely failed in properly managing the Maha Kumbh, while pointing out how airfares had risen up to Rs 50,000 as the government turned blind eye towards this blatant loot.
She observed that under the current regime there were two types of India in the country. She pointed out, while one type of people were getting extra and special privileges to perform VVIP Kumbh-bath in Prayagraj thanks to the courtesies of the “king”, common people were being crushed to death as happened at the New Delhi railway station on Saturday night and on January 29 in Prayagraj itself.
