A publication with right-wing propaganda that was distributed to passengers on board the Bengaluru-Chennai Shatabdi Express has stirred a controversy, prompting the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to initiate an inquiry into the matter.
Railway passengers from Bengaluru on Friday found copies of an unauthorised publication being distributed on the Shatabdi Express to Chennai.
The Bengaluru-based publication, Aryavarth Express, carried articles titled “Genocide of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, under Islamic rule needs to be recognised” and “UN should label Aurangzeb as perpetuator of holocaust like Hitler,” among others.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) issued a warning to its onboard services licensee.
The matter was raised by passenger Gopika Bakshi on Twitter.
IRCTC has reportedly approved only Deccan Herald and a local paper as the publications to be distributed on board trains in the region.
“We have ordered an enquiry into this and action will be taken against those found responsible. This paper is not among the IRCTC-approved publications,” IRCTC spokesperson Anand Jha said.
IRCTC then issued a clarification on Twitter that The Aryavarth Express was distributed as inserts inside ‘regular approved newspaper’ by the vendors.
The corporation added that the vendor “has been strictly advised to avoid any such inserts in future.” It added, “Onboard monitoring staff will keep a strict vigil on the same. The licensee of the train has also been counselled.”
And soon after, the tweets were deleted.
The passenger also retorted: “Thank you for the response but it was definitely not an insert. It was on my seat and many other seats when I arrived.”
DRM Chennai also added that they have requested "urgent action on this."
The tweet invoked a response from political party leaders and the public.
Member of Parliament Karti P Chidambaram questioned the Railway Ministry, “How does this paper get to be on the list of subscribed publications?” he asked.
Congress MP B Manickam Tagore also asked if the Railway minister will order an inquiry into it.
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