(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Terming as bluff Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that Indian Railways will not be privatised, the Congress Monday said it is already headed for it in view of the cabinet's green signal to 100 percent FDI in railways.
"The government is privatising Indian Railways by stealth, by no transparency. Without calling it privatisation, it is privatising every aspect of the railways. Only the driver that runs the engine will be remain a government servant. But rest is all privatised," party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told media persons here.
Terming it yet another "somersault", he said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's actions at present are not in sync with the promises its leaders made on the campaign trail in the run-up to the general elections and soon after taking power.
"The government's stand on Indian Railways is another addition to its list of U-turns as there is contradiction between what Modi said in his campaign, what he said after coming into power, and what he is saying at present," he said.
Modi in March last year, said: "If private vehicles can move on public roads, if private airlines can fly out of government-made runways, why can't private trains run on the government's tracks? The government can own the tracks but why must it control what goes on the top?"
But speaking at a railway establishment in his constituency Varanasi last week, Modi said: "There is a misunderstanding that railways is being privatized. However, I want to make it clear that we are not privatising railways... You (railway workers) need not worry. It is neither our wish nor thinking."
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