“Reel Minister, Derail Minister…”: Ashwini Vaishnaw loses cool amidst Opposition’s sloganeering over train accidents

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday rebutted the Opposition’s criticism over recent spate in train accidents, calling it ‘’blatant politicisation of tragedies”. During his address in the Lok Sabha, the union Minister highlighted what he termed as “poor track” record of railway safety during UPA regimes. He was visibly angry, as opposition sloganeered demanding accountability.

"Those who are shouting here must be asked why they were not able to install Automatic Train Protection (ATP) even for 1 km during their 58 years in power. Today, they dare to raise questions”, said Vaishnaw in the Parliament.

A charged up opposition slammed the government for the recent spate in incidents of derailments and collisions that have claimed multiple lives. Leaders from INDIA bloc interrupted Vaishnaw’s speech with loud sloganeering, calling him “Reel Minister”.

"You are a reel minister, you are a derail minister.", said Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MP Hanuman Beniwal. Vaishanaw was strongly criticised for the videos from his visit to accident sites- be it Balasore train tragedy in June 2023 or Kanchanjunga tragedy in 2024, where he could be seen being followed by dedicated camera, capturing his moment at the spot of the disaster. During Balasore tragedy he was seen coming out of a mangled bogie without any safety gear and at the time of Kanchanjunga disaster he was seen riding as a pillion on a bike, on his way to the remote spot of accident while his body guards walked by his side.

The Opposition had since been calling him the 'Reel Minister', accusing him of prioritising PR management instead of improving the railway infrastructure.

While replying to the Opposition MPs, Vaishnaw said, "We're not just people who make reels, we're people who work hard".

The Railway Minister claimed that the annual average number of accidents has gone down by 68% during 10 years of the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was around 171 during the Congress led UPA government.

“When Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister, she used to report the accident numbers decreasing from 0.24 to 0.19. People used to clap in the House, and today, when it has decreased from 0.19 to 0.03, they cast such blame. Will this country run in this way?”, asked the angry Minister.

The Railway Minister also accussed the opposition of infusing fear in the hearts of 2 crore people who travel everyday by railways. “The Congress, which is busy setting up a shop of lies, will not succeed with the shop. Sometimes they belittle the army, sometimes they belittle the railways; this kind of politics will not work. Congress, with the help of its troll army on social media, raises false claims. Are they trying to instil fear in the hearts of the 2 crore people who travel by railways every day?”, said the Railway Minister.

The country has been witness to a series of severe train accidents in past 2 months. On June 17, an over speeding freight train collided with the rear of the Kanchanjunga Express near Rangapani railway station in Darjeeling district, resulting in 10 fatalities and injuring at least 60 people. A month later, on July 18, 2024, 12 coaches of the Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express derailed near Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh. This incident led to 4 deaths and 32 injuries. The latest accident occurred on July 30, when 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai CSMT Mail (via Nagpur) derailed near Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. This derailment resulted in 2 deaths and injuries to at least 20 passengers.