On September 29th, Mumbai saw one more tragedy in the form of Elphinstone Road station stampede. Thousands of people who tried to stay in the bridge to take shelter from the rains went through a sudden stampede. It resulted in the death of 22 people and more than 50 people got injured due to stamping and suffocation.
This tragic incident exposed the political class of this nation once again. The opposition parties NCP, Congress and even the BJP ally Shiv Sena started protests against the BJP within no time of the tragedy. And the BJP started counter attacking them and defending themselves. None of them for once considered running to the victims’ rescue as a priority. This has exposed the concerns our political class has for a common citizen.
The politicians started tweeting, appearing on TV channels, and issuing statements against the BJP even before the victims were admitted to the hospitals. Couldn’t the wide reach these politicians enjoy in the social media be used for helping victims? But they engaged in mud slinging. Everyone knows that all parties are equally responsible for this sorry state of apathy in the public commute.
Let us see what different parties do as soon as the tragedy occured –
Congress
MRCC President Sanjay Nirupam comments on the extremely horrifying stampede in #Elephinstone railway station pic.twitter.com/FEI3UHxl1W
— MumbaiCongress (@INCMumbai) September 29, 2017
NCP
एलफिन्स्टन स्थानकातील दुर्घटनेला जबाबदार रेल्वे प्रशासन, सरकार विरोधात मुंबई अध्यक्ष @AhirsachinAhir यांच्या नेतृत्वात मोर्चा काढण्यात आला. pic.twitter.com/SfZzpQP4Xk
— NCP (@NCPspeaks) September 29, 2017
Shiv Sena
SS leaders Uddhav Thackrey and Sanjay Nirupam visited the hospital soon after the incident. None of these leaders realised that VIP visits mean blocked roads and unnecessary crowds. What did the vast sainiks do to help the victims injured?
BJP
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal rushed to Mumbai and ordered a high level inquiry. He said that in next seven days, all suburban stations will be inspected to identify vulnerable issues and will speed up work on foot overbridges.
CM Devendra Fadnavis too reached Mumbai late at night. He visited the hospital and took stock of the situation.
CM @Dev_Fadnavis lands at Mumbai and visits KEM Hospital to meet the persons injured in the #ElphinstoneBridgeStampede tragedy pic.twitter.com/7aniGt4m9E
— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) September 29, 2017
₹5 lakh announced for the next of the kins of deceased and all the medical expenses of the injured will be borne by GoM.#Elphinstone
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) September 29, 2017
The blame for the stampede cannot be blamed on the BJP alone. Because all the parties have shared fair share of power in Maharashtra for decades. The haste at which the other parties blamed BJP is in a bad taste and will not do any good for the betterment of the facilities.
