No amount of ‘slick PR’ can hide 'utterly mismanaged' railways by Modi govt: Congress
New Delhi, March 3
The Congress on Sunday said no amount of “slick PR” can hide the manner in which the Indian Railways has been “utterly mismanaged” during the Modi government, with Rahul Gandhi alleging that policies for the national transporter were being framed keeping only the rich in mind.
Gandhi also claimed that the trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a “guarantee of betrayal”.
In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi alleged that by showing the dream of making those wearing “hawai chappal” (slippers) travel by “hawai jahaz” (aeroplane), Prime Minister Modi is even distancing them from “gareebon ki sawari” (vehicle of the poor) railways.
“Amidst a 10 per cent increase in fare every year, loot in the name of dynamic fare, rising cancellation charges and expensive platform tickets, people are being lured by showing them a picture of an ‘elite train’ that the poor cannot even set foot on,” the former Congress chief said.
The government has collected Rs 3,700 crore from senior citizens in the last three years by “snatching away” the exemptions given to them, he claimed.
Common persons’ trains are made to languish to give precedence to the train selected for publicity, Gandhi alleged.
He claimed that the poor and middle class passengers have been left out of railways’ priority.
“To increase the number of AC coaches, the number of general coaches is being reduced. Not only labourers and farmers but also students and service class people travel in these (general) coaches. The production of AC coaches has also been increased to three times that of normal coaches,” he alleged.
“In fact, ending the tradition of presenting the Railway Budget separately was a conspiracy to hide these exploits,” Gandhi charged.
The railways’ policies are being framed keeping only the rich in mind and this is a “betrayal” of 80 per cent of India’s population that depends on it, he said.
“Trust in Modi is a ‘guarantee of betrayal’,” Gandhi claimed.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “No amount of slick PR, social media posts by Ministers, and grand announcements can hide the manner in which the Indian Railways has been utterly mismanaged during the Modi regime – a decade of degradation with an anti-poor mindset.”
Ramesh said five key issues have emerged – “ticket vasooli, anti-poor infrastructure priorities, lagging train speeds, callous attitude to passenger safety and deteriorating railways finances”.
