Politics plays out at Vande Bharat flag-off

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, April 12

The rollout of the Vande Bharat train in an Opposition party-ruled state was marred by a controversy once again as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment about the state of the Railways before he became the PM in 2014 drew a sharp reaction from Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

State of railways

Before I became the Prime Minister in 2014, politics was evident in the selection of the Railway Minister, announcement of trains and even in the recruitment process. Narendra Modi, PM

Speaking at the inaugural function at Jaipur, Gehlot said that Banswara, Tonk and Karauli, despite being district headquarters, had no railway connectivity. He requested the PM to address the issue.

Earlier tiffs

• On April 8, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao kept away from similar event
• In December 2022, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee refused to get up on the dais

Modi, who participated in the function virtually, took a swipe at Gehlot’s request. “Works which should have been done immediately after Independence haven’t been done till now. You have so much trust in me that you have kept those works for me. This trust of yours is the power of friendship. I express my gratitude to you for the trust you repose in me as a friend,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister also alleged that the Railways was turned into an arena of politics. “Politics was evident in the selection of the Railway Minister, the announcement of trains and even in recruitment. Land acquisition was done under the false pretence of railway jobs and many unmanned crossings continued for a very long time and cleanliness and safety took a back seat,” Modi said.

In a statement addressed to Modi, Gehlot said the describing of tenures of previous Railway Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram, Swaran Singh, Gulzarilal Nanda, K Hanumanthaiah, Lalit Narayan Mishra, Kamalapati Tripathi, Madhu Dandavate, PC Sethi, Ghani Khan Chaudhary, Mohsina Kidwai, George Fernandes, Jnaneswar Mishra, CK Jaffer Sharief, Ram Vilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar, Ram Naik, Mamata Banerjee and Mallikarjun Kharge as riddled with corruption was “unfortunate”.

Stating that he felt sorry to be present when these remarks were made, Gehlot said Modi himself was instrumental in reducing the importance of the Railways as he scrapped the practice of presenting a separate budget for the Railways. Gehlot added that the recent advancement in train operations could take place because of the policies of liberalisation introduced by Manmohan Singh in 1991 as Finance Minister.

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