Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday demanded a judicial probe into the bridge collapse in Gujarat, while Rahul Gandhi stressed that the party doesn’t want to politicise the tragedy.
“There should be a judicial inquiry to investigate the cause of this accident, which prima facie seems to be a case of criminal negligence and gross misgovernance,” Kharge said.
“This is not the time for politicking but the responsibility of this tragic accident must be fixed and the guilty must be brought to book. Only then can such incidents be prevented in the future.”
Asked who he would blame for the tragedy, Rahul Gandhi told a news conference in Telangana: “It would be disrespectful to those who died to politicise the tragedy.”
Several Congress leaders, in Gujarat and Delhi, demanded accountability from Gujarat’s BJP government and asked probing questions about the circumstances leading to the disaster.
“Over 190 bodies have so far been recovered. We were saddened to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who belongs to Gujarat, doing political functions wearing a hat,” Congress media department head Pawan Khera said.
“Has the FIR named any minister, any leader? Who took the decision to give the contract for maintenance of the bridge to a watch-making company with no experience of the job?”
Khera said: “We want to know whether the chief minister of Gujarat is resigning or (whether) he will be sacked. On what basis was a company without any technical expertise in bridge maintenance chosen? The company makes wall clocks, bulbs, mosquito rackets.”
He added: “Was the load-bearing capacity assessed? Was there any fitness certificate (issued) for the bridge after the renovation? Was there anybody to control
the crowds? Why was the bridge opened in haste, before schedule?”
Khera reiterated the demand for a judicial inquiry and said: “There is something called circumstantial evidence, which cannot be ignored. The urban development ministry here is a den of corruption. When tickets of Rs 17 and Rs 12 were issued, why was there no system to manage the crowds?
“Bodies were found outside hospitals during Covid but this government said people didn’t die. (Is there) any sense of accountability in this state?”
Senior Gujarat Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil said: “What we see in Gujarat is bhay-mukt bhrashtachar (fearless corruption). There is corruption everywhere. How can a bridge opened barely five days ago collapse? It’s a clear case of corruption. Opening projects in a hurry has become a routine election gimmick. What is the double-engine government for, to loot?”
Aware that there will be criticism of the party’s tough questioning at this stage, Khera said: “We are all in grief. But how will people get justice if questions aren’t asked? We don’t politicise tragedies like Modi does.”
He then played a video of the Prime Minister attacking Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the collapse of a flyover in Calcutta in 2016. Modi had said the disaster was “not an act of God but an act of fraud”.
“God has sent a message before the (Assembly) election that Mamata will sink the entire state in the same way the flyover has been flattened,” the Prime Minister had said.
Kharge, while expressing grief, asked Congress and Youth Congress leaders in Gujarat to go to site of the bridge collapse and help people. The Congress has put off its plan to kick off four Yatras (marches) in the poll-bound Gujarat by a day.
