Odisha Rail Accident: congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is in the United States, hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Center over the Odisha triple-train accident. Addressing the Indian diaspora in New York on Sunday, the former Congress MP said that the BJP has a habit of not admitting its mistakes and blaming the Congress when questioned. He said that he would blame the past of the Congress for the gruesome train accident in Balasore.
Gandhi, who is on a visit to the US, was addressing members of the Indian diaspora at the Javits Center in New York. He observed 60 seconds silence in respect of the people killed in the Odisha train accident.
The accident involving three trains has killed at least 280 people and focused attention on the issue of railway safety. Some opposition parties are demanding the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav.
‘Ask them anything, they will look back and blame…’
…” You ask them (BJP) anything, they will look back and blame.. Ask them how the train accident (Odisha) happened, they will talk about what Congress did 50 years back…, Rahul Gandhi said.
The train collision between the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train is considered one of the worst railway tragedies in the country’s history.
‘Congress did not hold the British responsible for the train accident’
Citing the example of one such train tragedy that happened during the Congress regime, the former Lok Sabha MP said the then railway minister had a moral responsibility and had resigned. “I remember a train accident when the Congress party was in power. The Congress party did not stand up and said that it was the fault of the British that the train met with an accident. The Congress minister said, it is my responsibility and I am resigning. So This is the problem that has come back to our home and we make excuses and we are not accepting the reality that we are facing,” Gandhi said.
‘Modi drives the car by looking at the rear view mirror’
Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP, saying they never talk about the future, and always blame someone else for their failures. He said, “He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is trying to drive the car…Indian car and he looks in the rear-view mirror. Then he doesn’t understand why this car is crashing, not moving forward. is. And that’s the idea.” With BJP, with RSS. All these You listen to the ministers, you listen to the Prime Minister. You will never find them talking about the future. They only talk about the past,” he said.
The Congress leader compared the BJP and the RSS, saying they were unable to see the future. He said, “The BJP and the RSS are incapable of seeing the future. They never talk about the future, they only talk about the past. And they will always blame someone else for the past.”
Speaking about the relevance of NRIs in the country’s politics, the senior Congress leader said, “The central architect of modern India was an NRI, Mahatma Gandhi was an NRI… India’s independence movement started in South Africa. Nehru , BR Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Subhash Chandra Bose, were all NRIs and open-minded to the outside world. They all came home with different views. “That’s what I expect from you (the Indian community).”
‘Fight between Mahatma Gandhi and Godse’
He said that there is a fight going on in India between two ideologies – one represented by the Congress and the other represented by the BJP and the RSS. He said, “The simplest way to describe this fight is that there is Mahatma Gandhi on one side and Nathuram Godse on the other.” “The ideology we follow is the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi, an NRI and a kind and simple man, who preached non-violence and a lifelong search for truth. However, the ideology BJP and RSS follow Nathuram Godse’s. A violent and angry person who is unable to face the reality of his life,” claimed Rahul.
(with inputs from agencies)