A series of questions from reporters on Thursday forced the general manager of Eastern Railway to make a statement that would in the past have seemed an obvious fact: the utility “is a secular organisation”.
The occasion was a news conference at Fairlie Place, the headquarters of Eastern Railway, to announce the launch of a train from Kolkata to Hindu pilgrimage sites in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
“This train covers only Hindu shrines. Why this distinction? Don’t you want Muslims to go on pilgrimage?” asked a journalist.
“Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan draws many visitors from West Bengal. Is there a plan to run a pilgrimage train to Rajasthan?” asked another.
It was then that Arun Arora, Eastern Railway general manager, said: “The railways is a secular organisation, like India is a secular country.”
Arora said economic viability was the guiding force in deciding the train routes.
“The decision (to select a pilgrimage corridor) is based on a demand survey. If there is a robust demand for a Sufi circuit, we will definitely run a train,” he said.
Arora, and a handful of officials, were interacting with reporters on the launch of a train under the Bharat Gaurav scheme, launched in November 2021 by the Narendra Modi government. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will operate the Bharat Gaurav train from Calcutta.
Zafar Azam, group general manager of IRCTC, said a demand survey to select other corridors was underway.
“Hazrat Nizamuddin (in Delhi) and Ajmer Sharif (in Rajasthan) will be the prime stops if a Bharat Gaurav train runs on a Sufi circuit,” he said.
The scheme allows private players to operate trains on theme-based circuits. Food, hotel accommodation and local transport are part of the package.
The first such train from eastern India will leave Kolkata (Chitpore) station on May 20, embarking on a 12-day tour of several Hindu pilgrimages in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The theme is Jyotirlinga (jyoti means radiance and linga is the symbol that represents Lord Shiva) Yatra. The journey will cover shrines like Omkareshwar, Mahakaleshwar, Somnath, Dwarka, Shirdi and the Statue of Unity.
Much of the news conference dwelled on thanking the “honourable Prime Minister”, whose “visionary leadership”, officials said, made the Bharat Gaurav project possible.
The tour will have three packages — sleeper (315 seats), 3AC (297 seats) and 2AC (44 seats). The cost per ticket is Rs 20,060, Rs 31,800 and Rs 41,600, respectively. Each ticket will also cover accommodation in hotels and road transportation, both commensurate with the package.
The railways, the most popular transporter in the country, has been a symbol of India’s diversity and pluralism but such descriptions have often come under strain in recent times.