Dubbing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “biggest liar”, MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday threatened that his party would not allow the start of the work on Modi’s ambitious bullet train project till the Government addressed all safety and all other issues relating to the suburban railway stations and commuters across the metropolis.
A day after a massive stampede on the foot overbridge (FOB) connecting the Parel and Elphinstone Road Railway stations claimed 23 lives and left 38 others injured, Raj said, “Till the Government addresses all safety and other issues relating to all the suburban railway stations and commuters in Mumbai, we will not allow the Government to undertake construction on the bullet train project in Maharashtra. Modi can undertake whatever bullet train work that he wants to do in Gujarat for the moment”.
Holding the Modi Government squarely responsible for the “pitiable state” of the suburban railway stations in the metropolis, Raj announced that the MNS would take out a massive morcha to Churchgate terminus, the headquarters of Western Railway, on October 5. “I will myself lead the morcha on October 5,” he said.
Dwelling specifically on the “horrible state” of the FOB on which the stampede took place on Friday, said: “My party leaders Sanjay Raut and Bala Nandgaonkar have been crusading for the widening of the FOB connecting the Parel and Elphinstone Road Railway stations for the last several years. Nothing has happened so far”.
Coming down heavily on Modi for his failure to keep his electoral promises, Raj said: “I have not seen any other Prime Minister who lies so much. He brought the BJP to power at the Centre by telling lies. While we go through social media, we come to know as to what he had said before the polls and what he is saying now”.
Slamming the Government for replacing former Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu with Piyush Goyal, Raj said, “Prabhu was doing a good job as a Railway Minister. He was asked to resign. Modi made Goyal the Railway Minister just to realise his bullet train dream. But, the fact remains Goyal is useless”.