The Congress on Sunday said that Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha’s rejection of an inquiry into the Railways’ role in the Amritsar tragedy was “extremely cruel”.
“I must say that on-the-spot, instantaneous rejection, after a short visit by the Rail Minister, of even an inquiry sounds extremely cruel and odd, to put it mildly. Nobody is saying that you are at fault, x is at fault, y is at fault; only an inquiry is being asked which will give some idea,” senior Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters.
“It is not the first time that Dasara at this location is being celebrated in this manner. Each year, after all, there were manned crossings, there were gate keepers. How many were absent on this occasion? We do not know without an inquiry,” Mr. Singhvi said.
He said an inquiry would also help to find out “if the Railways, like each year, had issued special warnings to the crowd and reduced train speed to a minimum crawl”.
The party also said that the Congress government in Punjab would fix accountability after the four-week inquiry. “As far as fixation of responsibility of non-Railway sphere is concerned, you have heard the categorical statements from the Chief Minister to have a time bound four-week inquiry to pinpoint blame and fix responsibility. More importantly, right now we need rehabilitation and a healing touch,” Mr. Singhvi said.