Trinamul Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday demanded the resignation of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and held the Centre responsible for Friday's triple-train accident.
"My heart goes out to the families who lost their loved ones and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured and if there remains a semblance of conscience, the Railway Minister should resign. NOW!" Abhishek wrote on Facebook, before telling the same to journalists at Bagnan in Howrah.
Trinamul sources said that the party would use the incident to sharpen its attack on the Centre during the June 12 meeting of the Opposition in Patna.
Taking a dig at the BJP's Digital India catchphrase, Abhishek said the country under the party's rule had turned into "Disaster India".
"A few days ago, the rail minister gave a demonstration using two trains on how anti-collision devices will help avoid accidents as the brakes will be applicable when two trains come close.... Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke about this technology called Kavach," Abhishek said. "When Mamata Banerjee was railway minister, she allocated funds to purchase these devices.... Had these devices been installed in the trains, the accident could have been avoided."
When the Prime Minister makes an appearance to flag off new trains, shouldn't he be held responsible for this accident, Abhishek asked. Instead of spending crores on the new Parliament complex or Central Vista, the Centre should have spent a few crores or a few lakhs on anti-collision devices in these trains, he said.
The BJP seemed muted. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari gave updates on rescue work of the railways and RSS teams. BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said this was an accident but "what happens in Bengal is the outcome of corruption and crime", referring to the Posta flyover collapse.