NEW DELHI, 23 April 2005 — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday demanded Railway Minister Lalu Prasad’s resignation for his callous and indifferent response to the train accident in Gujarat that claimed 24 lives.
“The BJP strongly condemns the callous, indifferent and politically motivated action of Lalu Prasad. He should take moral responsibility for the accident and resign,” BJP leader Arun Jaitley told reporters here.
Jaitley said that there’s been a sharp decline in safety standards during Lalu Prasad’s tenure as railway minister.
He said, while the BJP government in Gujarat were quick to effect rescue and relief operations after the Thursday morning’s accident when the Sabarmati Express collided with a stationary goods train at Samaliya, about 30 km from Baroda, the railway minister and the minister of state were late in arriving to the scene of the accident.
“By the time Lalu Prasad and the minister of state for railways (Naranbhai Rathwa) reached the accident site, the relief operation was well in progress,” he said.
He said only ministers of the Gujarat state reached the site of the accident early Thursday morning with Lalu Prasad and Rathwa arriving very late as they had missed the 6 a.m. flight.
He also slammed Lalu Prasad and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for giving political hue to the stone throwing incident in Baroda. A mob had attacked Lalu Prasad’s car on his arrival in Baroda.
Protesters attacked the car outside the government hospital in Baroda. Lalu Prasad alleged that the attack was masterminded by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi — a charge the BJP has vehemently denied.
Late Thursday night, the union Cabinet committee on political affairs met and issued a formal condemnation of the attack.
Jaitley said: “Instead of worrying about relief and rescue operations, the UPA tried to turn the stone throwing incident into a political issue. Elected leaders often have to face people’s anger.”
He pointed out that Modi too faced slogan-shouting protestors when he visited Godhra after the February 2002 razing of a coach of Sabarmati Express. He also cited the sharp protests against Modi in Calcutta by Left activists who practically forced him to turn back from the airport.
Meanwhile, the attack on Lalu Prasad is turning into a major controversy with Gujarat Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma seeking a report from Modi on the incident.
Sharma met Modi late Thursday night for more than 40 minutes, but official sources were tight-lipped about the talks.
Lalu Prasad had alleged that the attack was masterminded by Modi, with whom he has a history of political rivalry. “The riot-tainted (“dangaai”) Chief Minister Modi, who is communal and fascist, orchestrated this plan to take my life. He sent the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) and Bajrang Dal hooligans to attack me,” he alleged.
The BJP has constituted a committee to inquire into the rail disaster as well as the crowd incident. The three-member team led by Sushil Modi — the BJP leader in charge of Bihar who is an archrival of Lalu Prasad — arrived in the city yesterday.
In Patna, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) workers yesterday burned Modi’s effigies to protest the attack on party chief Lalu Prasad. RJD members carried out protests in different parts of Bihar. They demanded the dismissal of the Modi government and the imposition of president’s rule in Gujarat.
