Ashok Gehlot sad as PM Modi slams previous governments' handling of Railways; 'Not right'

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday, April 12 said that he is saddened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on the railway ministers prior to 2014. He also claimed that PM Modi's speech was given with a focus on the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In a statement on Twitter, Gehlot said, "I'm saddened that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in my presence said that the decision during the tenure of pre-2014 rail ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram, Sardar Swaran Singh, Gulzarilal Nanda, K Hanumanthaiah, Lalit Narayan Mishra, Kamalapati Tripathi, Madhu Dandavate, PC Sethi, ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, Mohsina Kidwai, Madhavrao Scindia, George Fernandes, Janeshwar Mishra, CK Jaffer Sharief, Ramvilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar, Ram Nayak, Mamata Banerjee and Mallikarjun Kharge were inspired by the political situation and had corruption."

The Rajasthan CM also accused the Modi government of taking away the importance of railways by abolishing the separate railway budget. "The modern trains after running today, because Dr Manmohan Singh as a finance minister in 1991 did economic liberalization and new technology was given an opportunity to develop in India," he said.

He added, "With time, there has been technological advancement across the world and new technology has also reached India and railway infrastructure has improved. It is not right to say that the development work in the railway took place after 2014."

Gehlot claimed that PM Modi's speech was focussed on upcoming elections and was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's agenda. "I don't think your remarks will be accepted by the people," he said.

'Selfish & mean politics had always overshadowed modernisation of Railways,' says PM Modi

After flagging off the Ajmer-Delhi Cantt Vande Bharat Express, PM Modi on Wednesday came down heavily on the previous governments alleging that selfish and means politics overshadowed the modernisation of the railways in the past.

"Unfortunately, selfish and mean politics had always overshadowed the modernisation of the Railways. The large-scale corruption did neither let the development happen in Railways nor did it let even the Railways' selection process be transparent," he said via video link.

Only after 2014, PM Modi said that the revolutionary transformation started taking place. "Who would become the railway minister was decided by looking at the political interest. It was the political interest that such trains were announced which never actually ran. The situation was such that after snatching the land of the poor, they were given a job in the railways. Railway safety...cleanliness everything was ignored. Changes in all these arrangements started coming after the year 2014," stated the Prime Minister.