Questioning strength of Indian soil is uncompromisable, Ashwini Vaishnaw criticises TMC MPs over claims on bullet train

Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a heated argument in Lok Sabha on Wednesday criticised Trinamool Congress MPs for questioning the "strength of Indian soil" for the upcoming bullet train technology and said that it is "uncompromisable".

During the speeches on the Demand for Grants for Railways in the Lok Sabha between Ashwini Vaishnaw, Pralhad Joshi, BJP MPs and TMC's Kalyan Banerjee, Sudip Bandopadhyay and Nusrat Jahan, the TMC MPs had said that the Indian soil is not capable to run a bullet train like that in Japan.

The comment drew a sharp response from the usually composed Railways Minister.

"It is shameful for a Member of Parliament to make a comment like this; Questioning India? The party which talks about Maa Mati Manush (TMC slogan) today is questioning our Maa (Mother India) and Maati (Indian soil), I wonder what kind of Manush (people) they are."

A day after the argument today, Vaishnaw told the media that he was aggressive because not one, but three TMC MPs questioned the land where "thousands of bravehearts sacrificed their lives for the country. We need to respect that."

"If not, at least don't disrespect them. If they would have said that we have technical challenges in running the bullet train in India, I would have explained to them the technicalities. But such questioning of India's integrity and principles is not acceptable to any Indian including me," he said.

Following the heated argument, Bandyopadhyay was seen apologising to the Union Minister with folded hands saying that such an episode would never be repeated again and his party would constantly endeavour in bettering the working of the Railways.

Recalling the apology Vaishnaw said, "He apologised to me on the floor of the House. We know that such episodes take place in politics, so we must all move on."

The Railway minister yesterday gave details on the progress of the bullet train project and said that the work is being done at the speed of 8 km per month along with the construction of pillars and bridges on all major rivers is also going on.

He said that the government is planning to take this project at a speed of 10 km per month in the coming days.

( With inputs from ANI )