Mamata Banerje - Politician First, Railway Minister Afterwards! - Instablogs
Mamata Banerje - Politician First, Railway Minister Afterwards!
veena , delhi: Oct 22 2009
Made Popular Oct 22 2009
India :

Mamata Banerje - Politician First, Railway Minister Afterwards!

Yesterday the Mewar Express was rammed in by Goa Express with such force that its three coaches were derailed and the engine of Goa Express ripped 10 feet deep into the last ladies coach, one of the coaches was converted into hollow cylinder of metal.

21 innocent people lost their lives and many were injured all because of an allegedly innocuous chain pulling. The inquiry is on. What is more baffling is the attitude of our honourable Railway Minister Mamta Bannerjee.

She was expected to be on the accident site as soon as the news of collision came in but she visited the site late on Wednesday night when everything was cleared. As per reports coming in She was in her hometown Kolkata, and as per Trinamool leaders she had no urgent public function to attend and had no emergency meeting of the party scheduled for the day.

In fact as per Trinamool Congress insiders she spent the day glued to the TV set not watching the progress of the rescue action but watching interviews of maoists criticizing her for not opposing the imminent nationwide police action against them by the UPA Government of which she is a part and of the CPM attacking her for demanding the withdrawal of CRPF forces from Lalgarh.

Obviously for her what is going on in her home state is of more importance than the train accident. She is more involved in West Bengal politics than in her ministry.

Pity, since she had fought for Railway portfolio and did not settle for anything less after a tough bargain with the Congress.
As a Cabinet Minister her vision should include the whole country but it seems that her world is limited to West Bengal only.

Presence of the Top most Brass in such incidents act as a morale booster both for the victims and the rescuers, more so ever some spot decisions which have to be taken for the welfare can be taken only by her had to be deferred.

After all it was only her who had claimed on 3rd July while presenting the Railway Budget that safety was the prime concern of her Ministry. Politicians do seem to have very short memory.

Tags: train collision, train, Mewar Express
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Chintan
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Chintan Oct 22 2009
Ambala, India
Presence of the Top most Brass in such incidents act as a morale booster both for the victims and the rescuers


You really think that way? Moral booster... a politician. No way!
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Capt.
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Capt. Oct 23 2009
New delhi, India
The Visit of the Politicians at the site hamper the rescue Operation, Those who Visit shed Crocodile tears and than forget, I am personally against it as the visiters make nuisance to the patients, and hamper in the treatment, but it is tradition. Site of accident need technical people who should guide & handle the situation to save maximum people from the wreckage .
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Suryasnata
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Suryasnata Oct 22 2009
Chandigarh, India
I don't think its her fault... its people's fault who were expecting to see her on the crash site. Politicians are not meant to sympathize with people. They are simply meant to create dramas before elections and then forget what they said.
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Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian
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Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian Oct 23 2009
Chennai, India
You are right Suryasnata... The following are the excerpts from ”The Hindu” Newspaper of June 30, 2003 recalling the Ariyalur Rail accident in 1956 and on how Sri Lal Bahadur Sastriji reacted to the accident:

He resigned as Railway Minister owning moral responsibility, when an accident occurred in Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu in 1956 in which 144 persons were killed. In fact, he had put in his papers when an accident had occurred in Mahboobnagar three months earlier, killing 112. But Nehru had not accepted it. He refused to continue in the post after the Ariyalur accident.

We will never see the likes of Sri Lal Bahadurji again.
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Milind
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Milind Oct 22 2009
Thiruvananthapuram, India
I think there should be a performance analysis for the politicians too along with the targets. They should also be screwed by the PM if they fail to achieve their targets.
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Pallab Ghosh
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Pallab Ghosh Oct 23 2009
delhi, India
well, I beg to differ with you Veena here as had it been somebody else I would have agreed outright since all the politicians are mere ’politicians’ depicting their their sect, clan and religion. Infact, its a different species altogether. But in this case it Mamta who is known for rushing to spot whosoever it had been and sympathize with the family. There had been many such instances where she stayed with the family and ensured that they get all the aids. Mamta can be charged with everything but not with any corruption charges or hypocrisy which is enough to break free from the tag ’politician’. I say all this after watching her over a long time period.
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veena
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veena Oct 24 2009
delhi, India
Pallab,there is no question about her being an honest politician, that she is but don’t you think it is time for her to widen her horizon to enclose India as a whole and leave West Bengal State politics to her other party members.
It was the same with other Railway Ministers Laloo Yadav and Nitish they were also more involved with their home states.
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Pallab Ghosh
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Pallab Ghosh Oct 24 2009
delhi, India
Yes Veena, there is no doubt about it and this is being raised from the very first day she has taken office. But here she is a politician who is seeing things through the 2011 perspective.
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