Punjab minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa Monday defended Navjot Kaur Sidhu over the Amritsar train tragedy, saying she was not at fault, and blamed the railway gateman for the incident, in which nearly 60 people were killed Friday.
Navjot Kaur Sidhu, the wife of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, was the chief guest at a Dussehra function in Amritsar on Friday, when a train mowed down several people watching the event.
Bajwa rubbished the Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD) demand of removing state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu from the cabinet over the incident.
The Sidhu couple has been a target of the Akalis ever since the train accident occurred. The SAD had sought registration of a murder case against Navjot Kaur Sidhu as well as the organisers of the Dussehra function, while holding them responsible for abetting the tragic incident. It had also demanded Navjot Singh Sidhu's dismissal from the cabinet.
"What is the fault of Mrs Sidhuwhat difference would have been made, had she reached the venue 10 minutes late," Bajwa said here, replying to a reporter's question.
"In fact, the culprit is the railway gateman at the nearby railway barrier," he alleged.
"A large number of people were standing on the railway track, which was only 300 metres from the railway barrier. Was he not aware about it? It is the responsibility of the gateman not to give green signal to a train when people are standing on the track. When we stage a sit-in on the railway track, the movement of trains is halted," the minister said.
Claiming that the gateman had closed the railway barrier, he said, "Why did he give clearance when he knew that people were standing on the track for at least two hours? He could very well see them."
Dismissing the Akali Dal's demand to remove Navjot Singh Sidhu from the cabinet, the state urban development minister said, "A lot of people are demanding the resignation of Akali Dal chief Sukhbir SinghBadal as well."
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