New Delhi, Feb 16 (UNI) The Congress on Sunday described as a "massacre" the stampede at the New Delhi Railway station that claimed 18 lives and accused Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw of "hiding the death toll" and demanded his resignation.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC office here, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "Instead of resigning, the Railway Minister is hiding the death figures and has engaged the entire department for whitewashing everything".
"Instead of taking responsibility, the Railway Minister of this country has resorted to shamelessness and is writing 'everything if fine'. Ashwini Vaishnav has no moral right to continue in his position. He should resign or the government should dismiss him," she said.
She further said, "The shamelessness of the Railway Minister was not new, he has been doing the same again and again. Whenever there is any train accident, he calls it a small incident".
She also alleged that to "hide the truth, phones of some reporters were confiscated and they were asked to delete the footage and also ID of a female reporter was snatched".
"Instead of expressing condolences and apologising for such an incident, the Railway Minister and the government were busy hiding the death figures which is even more gruesome," Shrinate alleged.
Shrinate claimed that hours before the accident, a "safety review meeting of the Railway Ministry was held" and wanted to know what was the conclusion of that meeting.
She said that first there was a stampede at the Mahakumbh on January 29 and yesterday a stampede at New Delhi Railway station. Seeing such incidents happening again and again as it seems that the life of a common man has no value, the Congress spokesperson alleged.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Manish Tiwari termed the incident as "tragic and heartbreaking".
On his handle X, he said, "So tragic and heartbreaking. Totally unnecessary loss of human lives. By tomorrow it would be forgotten yet another statistic while shattered families are left to pick up the pieces of their lives. Human life does not really matter in our country".
Notably, the toll in the stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station has gone up to 18, with 12 others sustaining various degree of injuries, a hospital official said on Sunday. UNI RBE SSP