NEW DELHI: Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi called for the

resignation

of Union railway minister

Ashwini Vaishnaw

on Friday, holding him morally responsible for the recent

train accidents

. Gogoi referred to Vaishnaw as the “

derailment minister

,” citing the derailment of four goods trains in the last two months and the Balasore incident that claimed around 300 lives.

“He (Ashwini Vaishnaw) is ‘derailment minister’, how many trains have been derailed in the last two years? In the last two months, 4 goods trains have been derailed. He should have resigned taking moral responsibility for about 300 people’s deaths in the Balasore incident,” Gogoi said.
In response to opposition criticism, Vaishnaw said in Parliament, “We are not the people who make reels, we do hard work unlike you people who make reels to show off.” He highlighted the importance of the railway as the country’s lifeline and a crucial organization for the nation’s economy. Vaishnaw appealed to the members of parliament to depoliticize the railways and focus on its improvement for the benefit of the country.
The railway minister also pointed out the poor track record of previous UPA regimes regarding railway safety. He questioned why they were unable to install Automatic Train Protection (ATP) even for 1 km during their 58 years in power.

Amidst interruptions and chants of “reel minister” from the opposition benches on Thursday, Vaishnaw sharply responded, “Hum reel banane waale log naheen hain, hum mehnat karne waale log hain (We are not people who make reels; we are people who work hard).Those who are shouting here must be asked in their 58 years of being in power why they were not able to install Automatic Train Protection (ATP), even 1 km. Today, they dare to raise the questions.”

The remarks come in the wake of recent rail accidents. On July 30, two people were killed when several coaches of the Howrah-CSMT Express derailed near Chakradharpur in Jharkhand. Earlier, on June 2, a triple train accident involving the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, the Howrah-bound Shalimar Express, and a goods train claimed 291 lives and injured over 1000 people.
Another incident on June 17 resulted in the death of at least 10 people and injured over 25 when a goods train collided with the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjungha Express near New Jalpaiguri.