Opposition slams L-G for editing tweet, dropping references to casualties

Opposition Aam Aadmi Party and Shiv Sena UBT on Sunday questioned Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for editing his original tweet on the New Delhi railway station stampede to drop references to casualties.

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At 11.55 pm on Saturday when the Railways was still maintaining there was no stampede and news of one was just a rumour, the L-G’s X post on the tragedy was the first confirmation that people had indeed died.

“There has been an unfortunate and tragic incident of loss of lives and injuries due to disorder & stampede at the New Delhi railway station. My deepest condolences to the families of victims of this tragedy,” the L-G said on X at 11.55 pm.

However at 12.24 am on Sunday, he edited his tweet to say, “There has been an unfortunate incident at the New Delhi railway station. Have spoken to the Chief Secretary and the Police Commissioner and asked them to address the situation. The CS has been asked to deploy relief personnel. Have instructed the CS & the CP to be at the site and take control of relief measures. I am constantly monitoring operations.”

The edited tweet also dropped portions where the L-G had said city hospitals had been put in a state of preparedness to handle any exigencies and Delhi Disaster Management Act provisions had been invoked.

Slamming the L-G’s move, the AAP said the fact that he edited his tweet was proof enough that he was escaping his responsibility of protecting the people of Delhi.

“This is the Delhi L-G appointed by the Central Government. He is responsible for the safety of crores of Delhi citizens. His tweet is proof enough of how skilled he is at evading responsibility. After the tragic incident at the New Delhi railway station, he first accepted in his tweet that there was a stampede in which people had died. But later he edited his tweet to save his masters and dropped all references to deaths of people,” the AAP said sharing screenshots of the L-G’s original and edited X posts.

Shiv Sena UBT’s Priyanka Chaturvedi also questioned the flip flop of the L-G about the tragedy that unfolded around 9.55 pm killing 18 people.