In the midst of demonetisation issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday brought back his emotional “Chai Wala” chord during his address to the railway employees saying he had special affection for railways as he spent much of his early days at railway platforms and seen the national transporter from close quarters.
“My links with the railways is strong. My childhood was spent on rail platforms. That is all the more reason I want to transform railways,” Modi said, as he addressed the inaugural session of the Rail Vikas Shivir via video-conferencing. The event was organised by the Indian Railways in Surajkund. He will be visiting the camp on Sunday, the concluding day of the event.
In the run up to lok Sabha polls, Modi had stated to have sold tea at railway stations in his childhood which became later a poll plank for BJP’s Chai pe Charcha and it boomeranged on Congress who had made a fun of him and his statement.
Modi, whose Government has decided to scrap the 92-year-old practice of presenting a separate Railway Budget, also asserted that the annual ritual was never an exercise of “political agenda” for him and that he had taken the “courageous” decision of keeping himself “free from the love for political gains (from railways)”.
“There used to clapping on such announcements (in Parliament). When I took over, I noticed that 1,500 announcements (regarding railways) had been made previously which had remained confined only to clapping. I could have done the same thing and collected claps and praise. But I remained free from the love for political gains. I showed courage,” Modi said, while asserting that he has “no political agenda” to pursue through the railways.
Amid efforts to introduce high speed trains, Modi said the Indian Railways should transform with the change of the century and focus on “new speeds, progress and new capacity” along with gaining financial strength.
Noting that the current century is technology-driven, Modi pitched for innovation to make the railways strong. His comments came against the backdrop of efforts to introduce high speed trains in the country, for which technology and monetary assistance is being taken from Japan whose bullet train is world class. The first high speed corridor is to be built between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, construction for which will begin in 2018.