Vande Bharat stone-pelting: How TMC-BJP tussle has flared up

In Satyajit Ray’s 1955 movie Pather Panchali, the protagonist Apu runs through a blooming kash field with his sister Durga to catch a glimpse of an approaching train.

The auteur used the train as a metaphor for modernism to depict humans’ natural pull towards innovation and scientific progress, defined through a spellbound Apu.

BJP’s Ray moment

Cut to the dying hours of 2022: The BJP tried to recreate the spell again in Bengal around what the country’s ruling dispensation touted as a symbol of great advancement of India – the Vande Bharat Express.

Hundreds and thousands of BJP workers and supporters flanked the railway tracks to view the maiden run of the semi-high-speed train in the state on December 30 with the same awestruck expression as that of the curious little boy Apu.

Also read: Vande Bharat pelted with stones in Bengal’s Malda; BJP demands NIA probe

The Apu-like enthusiasm is understandable as the right-wing online ecosystem even propagated Vande Bharat Express as India’s bullet train, highlighting that during its trial run it had broken the record of the high-speed train by zooming from 0 to 100 kmph in just 52 seconds.

Fact vs claims

It’s altogether a different matter though that the average speed of the Vande Bharat is around 75-77 km per hour. There are already over 60 express trains in India which clock an average speed of over 75 km per hour, according to railway sources.

The Vande Bharat can speed up to 180 kmph, which is slightly faster than the Rajdhani Express that can attain the top speed of 160kmph.

Also read: Why many passengers are giving Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat train a miss

Tracks and signal systems needed to be upgraded to attain the full speed potential of the train on the Howrah- New Jalpaiguri route, said an Eastern Railway official.

The train, designed and manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai as part of the Make in India initiative, covers the 564-km distance between Howrah and New Jalipaiguri in around seven and half hours which is just a tad less than the Shatabdi Express that covers the distance in eight and half hours.

For the uninitiated, the fastest bullet trains travel at a maximum speed of 505 kmph.

The hype and hoopla apart, ever since the inauguration of the state’s first Vande Bharat Express connecting Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, the train has been turned into a subject of high political drama, which got a new twist on Thursday.

Political slugfest over stone-pelting incident

The BJP and Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress got locked in political slugfest following two back-to-back incidents of stone pelting at the train on Monday (January 2) and Tuesday (January 3).

The first incident occurred in Malda district of West Bengal, when the train was on its way to Howrah. The second incident took place when it was headed towards New Jalpaiguri.

The BJP had quickly linked the incidents with terrorism, demanding an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the counter-terrorism task force.

Also read: WB’s 1st Vande Bharat Express to cut travel time from Howrah to NJP by 3 hours

“Unfortunate and sickening. Stones pelted at India’s pride Vande Bharat Express in WB’s Malda district. Is this revenge for ‘Jai Shree Ram’ chants on the Inaugural day? I urge @PMOIndia & @RailMinIndia to handover the probe to @NIA_India & punish the perpetrator (sic),” tweeted senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

The BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh even went to the extent of claiming that the incidents had once again proved that the “anti-national elements have been dominating the state under the patronage of the ruling TMC.”

“Kashmir (situation) has improved. But Bengal is now turning into a Kashmir. All anti-national elements get shelter in the state,” he had added.

The plot changed on Thursday when Railways released footage of the second stone pelting incident. The place shown in the footage is in Bihar and not in Bengal, derailing the BJP narrative.

Based on the footage, the Bihar Police arrested three minor boys in the state’s Kishanganj district in connection with Tuesday’s incident.

Three minor boys in the age group of 13-15 were identified and detained in the stone pelting incident on Vande Bharat train in Kishanganj, Bihar Police said in a statement.

No one has been identified and arrested in connection with the first incident in Malda. FIRs have been lodged in both cases and an awareness campaign has been launched to deter citizens from attacking trains.

Following the latest development, the TMC has now turned the heat on the BJP claiming that it tried to malign the image of Bengal with false claims.

“The BJP’s only agenda is to defame Bengal. Vande Bharat was also attacked in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh,” TMC spokesperson Santanu Sen told newspersons.

The ‘Jai Shri Ram’ row

The most incidents of stone pelting at Vande Bharat, in fact, had taken place in Uttar Pradesh, railway sources said.

Mamata Banerjee said legal action would be taken against those media outlets that spread “fake news” that the incidents took place in West Bengal, bringing a bad name to the state.

She also triggered a fresh controversy over the newly-launched train, calling it just an old train refurbished with a new engine.

Also read: PM Modi virtually flags off Howrah-NJP Vande Bharat Express

“Now it is abundantly clear that Vande Bharat was targeted on Mamata Banerjee’s instruction. She is both, incompetent and jealous, of Modi Govt working for WB. The problem was never slogans of Jai Shree Ram but BJP taking a lead to improve lives of people. What a disgrace she is! tweeted BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya.

It seems that the last is yet to be heard in the politics over Vande Bharat.

It had all started when BJP supporters gathered at the Howrah station to witness the launch of the showpiece event, greeted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on her arrival shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram,’ a religious chant turned into a political slogan by the saffron party.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s appeal to workers to calm down went unheeded. Irked by the “hackling,” Banerjee, in protest, refused to go to the dais and sat in the audience with officials.