Patna: RJD chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad on Sunday created a flutter in political circles when he called Kumbh meaningless as he also held railways responsible for the stampede at New Delhi railway station, claiming 18 lives.
“The Kumbh has no meaning. It is just meaningless,” he remarked while responding to a media query on lakhs of people heading to Prayagraj for the mega religious gathering.
Holding the railways responsible for the stampede, Lalu also demanded the resignation of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in view of the incident. He said that the stampede incident was quite upsetting, exposing the inadequate arrangements made by the central government.
“The railway minister must resign after this incident… it’s a complete failure of the Railways,” he contended.
Meanwhile, JD (U) national spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad targeting Lalu for holding railways responsible for the railways said, “We are all in grief and this is not the time for politics.” Bihar BJP spokesperson Manoj Sharma alleged that Lalu`s comment on Kumbh exposed RJD’s mindset towards the Hindu religion.
“Lalu’s such comments is yet another manifestation of his politics of appeasement. The RJD leaders have always insulted the religious sentiments of Hindus. The latest statement of Lalu calling the Maha Kumbh meaningless exposes the party’s mindset towards the Hindu religion,” he added.
Meanwhile, chief minister Nitish Kumar expressed sorrow over the deaths in a stampede at New Delhi railway station, and announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased hailing from Bihar.
Among the 18 deceased, nine are from Bihar, eight from Delhi and one from Haryana.
On the other hand, high alert has been sounded at Bihar`s all railway stations in view of the stampede at New Delhi railway station.
Both state director general of police (DGP) and additional director general (rail police) are regularly monitoring the situation as a large number of people are boarding Prayagraj-bound trains at railway stations across the state for having a dip in Triveni Sangam during Mahakumbh.
Rail police have started restricting entry to railway stations depending on the number of passengers as all railway divisions have activated war rooms and the number of railway protection force (RPF) personnel is also being increased inside the railway station premises.
