Union minister slams Mamata Banerjee for questioning official death toll in Odisha train accident

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for questioning the official death toll in the Odisha train accident, and said nobody should play politics over the tragedy. At least 275 people were killed and 1,175 injured in the triple train accident that occurred in Odisha's Balasore on Friday.

Three trains - Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah super fast and a goods train - were involved in the accident, now being described as one of India’s worst train accidents. Earlier in the day, Mamata Banerjee questioned the death figures given by the Ministry of Railways in the triple train crash, stating that 61 people from her state were dead and 182 were still missing.

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"If from one state, 182 are missing and 61 are confirmed dead, then where would the figures stand?" she asked while speaking to reporters in Kolkata. Union minister Thakur, while addressing a press conference in Ulhasnagar town of Maharashtra's Thane district, said the Odisha train accident was heartbreaking.

Reacting to the West Bengal chief minister questioning the official death figure, he said, "Mamata Banerjee has lost her 'mamata' (affection)...The figures were given by the state (Odisha) government where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not ruling." "Nobody should play politics over such tragic incidents. This is the time for everyone to stand with the families of the victims who have lost so much," he said.

Thakur listed the achievements of the Narendra Modi dispensation in the last nine years and claimed that no other government has done so much for the country. Referring to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the minister said the government in power at that time was a "silent" one, while the present one is "striking".