Forget bullet trains, fix the existing ones, says BJP leader to PM Modi

December 26: Forget the bullet train, fix the existing ones first. This was the message given by a BJP leader in a video to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal from a train delayed by several hours. Laxmi Kanta Chawla, a BJP leader from Amritsar, who had been stuck on the Saryu-Yamuna train for more than 10 hours made the mobile phone video. which has now gone viral in social media.

Ms Chawla, a former Punjab minister, was travelling AC-3 on the Saryu-Yamuna train on December 22 and had been stuck for an extra 10 hours when she made the mobile phone video. Reports suggest the train from Amritsar to Ayodhya was delayed by many more hours.

“My appeal is to PM Modi and the government is, please have some pity on us common people. The trains are in such a dilapidated condition, the doors are broken, the latrine taps are broken, the toilet seats are broken… The train’s route had to be changed due to some reason. We have not been given any information. There is no food arrangement in the train for the people who have been on it for the last 10 hours,” she said.

“Forget about trains that run at 120 km or 200 km per hour. People are on the footpath, there is no waiting room and people are sleeping in the open in such biting cold – Piyush Goyal ji and Modi ji.” She also talked about corrupt railway officials demanding bribe. She even went on to criticise the railway helplines that had been advertised, saying that she had called up the helplines and had even mailed Piyush Goyal but to no avail as no help has been provided so far.

In that video, she further went to say, “Modi-ji, people are upset. I don’t know who has seen acche din (good times), certainly not the common man.”