Stones Pelted at Vande Bharat Train in Bengal; BJP Demands Probe, TMC Calls it 'Well-planned Script'

An incident of stone pelting on the recently started Vande Bharat Express on Bengal route has come to light whereby a stones were hurled at the train near Samsi Kumarganj of the Kathia division of Indian railways.

Stones were reportedly thrown at coach C-13 of the train when it was returning to Howrah from New Jalpaiguri, causing a crack in the glass shield on the door. The stone-pelting triggered panic among the passengers onboard, however, they remained unharmed.

Eastern Railways confirmed the incident and said, “On 02.01.23 at about 17.50 hrs, information received from on duty T.E party of T.N.22302 Vande Bharat Exp. was pelted with stones in coach no. C13 after crossing Kumarganj station under IPF Samsi”.

“As a result, the door glass got cracked. The train escort contained 01 ASI along with 04 staff with Arms and Ammn.of RPF POST D-Shed MLDT,” Eastern Railways said.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons under section 154 of the Railways Act, Indian Railways informed on Tuesday, adding that glass of one main door was affected but no passenger was injured. The train was not delayed either due to the incident, Indian Railways said.

The incident comes just a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually flagged off the Vande Bharat Express connecting Howrah and New Jalpaiguri on December 30, 2022, in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

BJP leader and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari condemned the incident while terming it “unfortunate and sickening.” He also asked if it was revenge for ‘Jai Shree Ram’ chants on an inaugural day. Further, he urged the Prime Minister’s Office to hand over the probe to National Investigation Agency (NIA) and demanded punishment for the perpetrators.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh also reacted to the incident and asked “who are trying to damage Vande Bharat”.

Taking to Twitter, Ghosh said, “Proper investigation needed. @AITCofficial

strongly condemn stone throwing”. He added that “this may be a conspiracy to create negative campaign against Bengal. First throw stones, then make statements, then start dirty politics; a welplanned script [sic]”.

Notably, this is not the first instance of stone pelting that the brand-new express has been subjected to. Another such attack was reported in the month of November by AIMIM Party leader Waris Pathan, who took to Twitter to share a picture and claimed that stones were thrown when AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi was traveling in the train from Ahmedabad to Surat in Gujarat in November 2022.

Similarly, another instance was reported in December 2022 when a Vande Bharat Express train was traveling from Nagpur to Bilaspur.

West Bengal’s first Vande Bharat Express

Covering a distance of 546 km in 7.4 hours, Bengal’s Vande Bharat Express was inaugurated to improve connectivity between major Indian cities. This is the first Vande Bharat Express in West Bengal as well as eastern India.

As per reports, the train will save three hours of travel time compared to other trains on the route, officials said. It will have three stoppages at Barsoi, Malda, and Bolpur.

PM Modi dedicated the Vande Bharat Express to the state after it has been equipped with advanced technologies to make the transit more comfortable and time-saving.

Speaking at the launch, PM said, “Today’s Vande Bharat train was launched from the land where the ‘Vande Mataram’ slogan was coined.” The Prime Minister added, “The launch date of December 30 is significant as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had hoisted the tricolor in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on this day in 1943.”

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