The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday criticised Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for continuing to reel out “conspiracy theories” after train accidents. In the latest accident at Sainthia, more than 60 people were killed and several others seriously injured.
Alleging that Ms. Banerjee remained preoccupied with other activities and was not discharging her responsibilities as Union Minister, the party said it was the responsibility of the Prime Minister, as the head of the Union Cabinet, to ensure collective responsibility, including individual accountability of the Ministers.
“Between May 2009, when the United Progressive Alliance assumed office for the second time, and July 2010, there have been 16 major rail accidents, in which at least 269 people lost their lives and over a thousand were seriously injured. If all minor incidents are taken into account, there have been 162 accidents since May 2009, in which 428 people died,” an editorial in the latest edition of the party's organ, People's Democracy, said.
The editorial said yet another conspiracy theory was floated by the Railway Minister after an Express train rammed another from behind at Sainthia, and sabotage theories started doing the rounds even before the customary expression “of pretension of remorse on such occasions.”
It said the Minister absolved herself of any moral responsibility by saying that she was suspicious about the cause.
The editorial recalled the similar statements made on earlier occasions.
According to it, the Union Home Ministry had rejected the Railway Minister's suspicion of foul play. “Undeterred, the Railway Minister and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) continue to churn out conspiracy theories targeting the CPI(M) and the Left. The Jnaneswari Express accident, we are told, occurred just two days before the municipal elections in West Bengal. This is a fact. But then, it was the TMC that gained in these elections. Where does the needle of suspicion point to? From the TMC's own standards of conspiracy theories, it is clear that the ‘boot is on the other foot.' This unfortunate accident happened again, two days before an annual gathering of people the TMC organised every year in Kolkata,” the editorial noted.
Systemic failure
The string of accidents, it said, left many important questions unanswered and pointed to a systemic failure in the past one year and the lack of attention to the efficient and safe running of the world's largest railway network.
“Clearly, India cannot afford such dangerous state of affairs on its railway network, which is so crucial to the country's existence. The Railway Minister, pre-occupied as she is with other activities, is not discharging her responsibilities as the Union Minister that have been sanctioned and sanctified by the oath of office,” the editorial said.
