We All Miss Him: PM Modi's Absence At Vande Bharat Event Dampens Spirit Of Children Onboard Train
Around 50 students, winners of an essay competition on the indigenously made train, were special invitees to ride the Vande Bharat's inaugural service in Bengal on Friday.
New Delhi: Shreya Das, 16, expected a rerun of ‘Parisksha Pe Charcha’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with children ahead of board exams, when she was chosen to be on board the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express with the PM.
However, his absence because of a personal loss considerably dampened the spirit of Das and many of her fellow students.
Around 50 such students, winners of an essay competition on the indigenously made train, were special invitees to ride the inaugural service on Friday.
"I thought it would be like ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’, but in his absence, it will not be the same. We will all miss him. It has dampened the experience," said Das, a student of K V Command School here.
Das and the other children, while missing the PM's presence, said they understood that his absence was unavoidable.
"We are sorry for his loss. It must be heartbreaking to lose a parent. I really wanted him to be here. While his absence mars the excitement a bit, the joy of being one of the first in the state to board this train is beyond description," said Hemant Pandit, a student of Eastern Railway Hindi High School.
The prime minister’s mother Hiraben passed away at a hospital in Ahmedabad on Friday. She was 99.
Modi was scheduled to not just flag off the new train, but inaugurate and launch railway projects to the tune of over Rs 5,000 crore in Bengal.
He virtually flagged off the Vande Bharat express connecting Howrah and New Jalpaiguri in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
"It is an indigenously made train and that's what drew me to it in the first place. It's a symbol of our pride and patriotism. The only thing that made this an incomplete experience is the absence of the PM. However, I will take on the ride with as much enthusiasm," said Soham Mukherjee, a student of K V Fort William.
The ride to New Jalpaiguri will take around 7.5 hours as against an average time of close to 10.5 hours taken by 14 other trains that run on the route. It will have three stoppages at Barsoi, Malda and Bolpur.
The seventh Vande Bharat express with modern passenger amenities is likely to be preferred both by regular passengers, tea industry executives and tourists travelling to the Himalayas in North Bengal and Sikkim.
The state-of-the-art train has 16 coaches, including two for drivers.
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