On Sunday, November 13, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) took to Twitter to fact-check the misleading claims made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the privatisation of railways as false and baseless.
The official Twitter handle of the PIB Fact Check shared a screenshot of Rahul Gandhi’s tweet from Saturday (November 12), which claimed that 151 trains of the Indian Railways have been privatized and wrote in Hindi, “In a tweet, a false claim is being made that 151 trains, Railway property, stations and hospitals have been privatised. This is false and baseless. The Railways have not privatized any of its assets.”
Notably, Rahul Gandhi shared a video from his ongoing campaign in a tweet on Saturday, writing, “Railways connect India, serving 2.5 crore passengers per day and employing 12 lakh people. Railway, Pradhanmantri ji, is the property of the country. It should not be privatized. It needs empowerment, not privatisation. Don’t sell it.”
In the video embedded in Rahul Gandhi’s tweet, he can be seen interacting with people in Telangana while on his Bharat Jodo Yatra. Some of them were railway union members who came to meet Rahul Gandhi to submit a memorandum opposing the alleged ‘privatisation of railways.’
“Which part of Indian Railways is being privatized?” Rahul Gandhi inquired as he walked. ‘Railway stations, workshops, medical centers, and establishments will be privatized,’ said Bharani Bhanu Prasad, a member of the South Central Railway Employees’ Sangh.
“When do they plan to do this? Are they already doing this slowly?” Rahul Gandhi inquired. “Yes, Sir,” the members replied.
“To whom are they giving it? Big companies or small ones?” Rahul Gandhi queried. “Big companies, sir,” the union members said collectively in the video. “Private trains are already in use in India,” the members claimed.
The Railways’ Employee Sangh member went on to claim that Adani, Ambani, and their affiliated companies are getting railways properties including trains as part of Modi government’s railway privatisation.
The railway union members also stated in the video that they met with Rahul Gandhi and explained the ‘privatisation’ of the railways to him. “In the 170-year history of the Indian Railways, we have never seen or heard of privatisation. We are opposed to the privatization,” a member said.