Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday hit back at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his jibe at Vande Bharat Express and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship programme 'Make in India'.
"Such a shame that you choose to attack the hard work and ingenuity of Indian engineers, technicians and labourers. It is THIS mindset which needs a reset. ‘Make In India’ is a success and a part of crores of Indian lives. Your family had 6 decades to think, wasn’t that enough?" the minister said on social media late last night.
Earlier in the day, the Congress president had cited Train 18 experiencing trouble on Saturday to attack PM Modi's Make in India programme, claiming that most people feel it has failed.
A day after being flagged off by Prime Minister Modi, India's first semi-high speed train, Vande Bharat Express or Train 18, ran into some trouble early this morning while returning to Delhi from Varanasi.
"Modi ji, I think Make in India needs a serious rethink. Most people feel it has failed. I assure you we in the Congress are thinking very deeply about how it will be done," Gandhi tweeted, tagging a report which claimed train 18 'breaks down' 200 km outside Delhi.
After experiencing problems, the train reached Delhi around 1 pm on Saturday and is scheduled to begin its first commercial run on Sunday with all tickets already sold out.
While officials said the problem was caused by "skidding wheels", those on board the train claimed it was a case of malfunctioning of brakes.
Train 18 was manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. It became India's fastest train by hitting speeds of over 180 kmph during a trial run on a section of the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani route.
It was renamed as Vande Bharat Express by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
