THAT the Railways has pointed to a possible ‘sabotage’ in the Odisha train tragedy, has made the issue very serious. Many observers had suspected such a possibility even as the first reports of the ghastly accident came in. Yet, there still were lurking doubts about a human error leading to the trains crashing into one another after derailment of one. Now that the railway authorities have ruled out the angle of an error on the part of the driver of a train, the doubt deepens about a possible sabotage. Railway Minister Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw has stated that the elements that were responsible for the mishap have been identified. This means clearly that the authorities have already zeroed in on those saboteur elements. In other words, pinning the blame of the dirty act of sabotage on the right people will be done in good time, and guilty be punished.

Many observers have expressed doubts that the saboteur elements in the Odisha train disaster may be having Maoist links. This conclusion they come to on the basis of the modus operandi that has come to fore in the preliminary investigations. The initial investigations have revealed reportedly that the track interlocking system’s mechanism is foolproof and could not be tampered with through distance-control. That suggests that somebody who knows the interlocking operations may have done the dirty job of disturbing the mechanism by hand. And this possibility gives rise to another issue -- how could some one do the dirty job without being watched by anybody? It is only natural that this would be the first point of the subsequent investigations. If some one has slipped in performing his duty and was either slack or looked the other way, then that person will have to be brought to book without fear or favour. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi also has assured that nobody would ever be spared for whatever failure to perform proper duty.

The very fact that the Prime Minister found it necessary to pay a personal visit to the accident site and then to the hospitals where the injured persons were shifted for treatment, shows the importance the Government attaches to the ghastly accident. The seriousness of the issue is also indicated by the fact that several world leaders including US President Mr. Joe Biden and Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin expressed deep anguish and solidarity with India in the face of one of the dirtiest train disasters in the world. The global emotion is with India, and that gives the Indian people a sense of having people around not just to sympathise but also to empathise.

It is unfortunate, however, that some political parties are playing political games around the ghastly accident that took 275 lives and injured countless others. The possibility of sabotage adds a very sinister dimension to the tragedy. In such a situation, it is only despicable that some political parties are weaving dirty tales around the accident. They should realise that this is not the time to play political games and indulge in dirty machinations. They should desist from cheap politics when the country has seen one of the world’s worst train mishaps just two days ago.

It is obvious that those who indulged in sabotage had only one idea -- bleed India through a thousand cuts! Their intention was also to shock the common Indian people and introduce in their minds an element of fear and insecurity. However, the country has seen many such incidents, and has therefore learned how to deal with the situation. The dirty intentions of the saboteurs will never succeed, and the common Indian people will never get panicked. Indian society is a stable entity and is led by an efficient Government at all levels. That assurance is greater than any fear.