By IANS,
Kolkata : Ridiculing Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee for introducing new trains “every day”, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Sunday alleged that the railways in the country was in a “very bad state”.
The chief minister also attacked the railways for belittling Bengal’s great personalities by printing their pictures in its advertisements.
“The railways have come out with advertisements carrying the pictures of Bengal’s great men with regard to a programme. I saw pictures of Mastarda Surya Sen and Kazi Nazrul Islam. They are making a ‘tamasha’ of our great men,” Bhattacharjee said at a memorial meeting of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Subhas Chakraborty.
Bhattacharjee was referring to the railway advertisements in connection with Saturday’s inauguration of the extended run of the city’s Metro Railway from Tollygunge to Garia on the southern fringes.
Banerjee, who flagged off the first train on the stretch, announced that stations will be named after Indian freedom fighters Mastarda and Kshudiram Bose and rebel poet Nazrul Islam.
The chief minister, a top leader of the state’s ruling Left Front major CPI-M, questioned the state of the railways.
“What is the railways doing? Everyday they are flagging off new trains. What’s this? Do they think that people’s eyes are shut? What is the condition of railways? The railways is in a bad state,” he said.
In an apparent reference to the railways for not inviting him to Saturday’s function, the chief minister reminded the audience that the state government had paid a considerable amount for the extended run of the Metro.
“Whose project is it? And who is now running it? The entire effort was ours. A large part of the expenses was borne by us.”
The state government has paid 33 percent of the total expenses for the extension. Left Front chairman Biman Bose had Saturday flayed the railway ministry for ignoring Bhattacharjee and arranging a political programme with government funds.
Bhattacharjee said the leftists will have to protest unitedly against such perversities by the railways.
Describing the Trinamool as a “dangerous outfit”, he said: “It is not only supporting the Maoists, but it is also trying to destroy our party by driving out our supporters from various areas.”