Gujarat Morbi bridge collapse: Opposition calls out PM Modi’s hypocrisy

The Opposition has asked him to hold his own party’s government in Gujarat accountable for the tragedy that has shocked the nation.

Hyderabad: In the aftermath of the bridge collapse in Gujarat’s Morbi, an old video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while campaigning for the BJP in 2016 where he targets West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has gone viral.

The Opposition has asked him to hold his own party’s government in Gujarat accountable for the tragedy that has shocked the nation.

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In 2016, after the Vivekananda Road flyover collapsed right before the Bengal Assembly elections, Modi targeted Banerjee, calling it an “act of fraud”.

“Such a huge bridge came crashing down, and what did these people say? They say it’s an act of God. Didi, this is not an act of God, this is an act of fraud. This is the result of the act of fraud. It’s definitely an act of God to the extent that it came down during elections and people got to know what kind of government you have been running. It is a message from God to the people that today the bridge has come down and tomorrow Bengal will be finished,” Modi had said.

Opposition parties and several netizens, too, have asked why the PM should not hold his own party accountable as well when so many more died in Morbi. They have also said that Modi’s statement in 2016 was inhumane because he had made it a political issue then and tried to gain mileage by blaming the State government.

BJP- Trinamool spar over tragedy

Meanwhile, the heat of the Morbi bridge collapse reached West Bengal with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP entering into a war of words over the mishap.

According to West Bengal Transport Minister Snehasis Chakraborty, the mishap was a classic example of a fallout of rampant corruption in Gujarat. “Whenever anything happens in West Bengal, however minor the development might be, BJP’s Central fact-finding team visits the State. I would now like to question the State BJP leaders here whether they will now send a similar fact-finding team to Gujarat. They are always in fault-finding missions in West Bengal. Their only aim is to disturb the State administration in West Bengal. My advice to them is to first control things in Gujarat and then think about West Bengal,” Chakraborty said.

Senior TMC legislator Tapas Roy said the mishap was an example of how hollow the tall claims of the BJP and the Gujarat government were about the structural engineering, quality of bridges and superb infrastructural development. “I just want to know what they have to claim now. Questions are already being raised on whether it was justified to open the bridge to the public before examining its health,” Roy said.

However, State BJP spokesman in West Bengal Samik Bhattacharya has rebuffed the critical words from the TMC leader. “Had the Trinamool Congress leaders and Ministers been so cautious about civil engineering perfection, then their leader and the State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would not have forced the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited to change the route of the Kolkata East-West Metro.

Because of this change of route there had been frequent cracks in the houses of the congested Bowbazar area leaving the residents helpless. What has happened in Gujarat is undoubtedly tragic. The State government there will look into it. But there is no reason to shout so much about the mishap here in West Bengal. The State government should not forget the event of the Posta Flyover collapse,” Bhattacharya said.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has issued a Twitter message to condole the deaths in the Morbi bridge collapse. “I am deeply concerned about the tragic bridge collapse in Morbi, Gujarat, that has cost several innocent lives and left many trapped. My deep condolences to the families and friends of the deceased. I pray that the injured have a speedy recovery,” her Twitter message read.