Just yesterday a foot-over bridge collapsed at the CST railway station in Mumbai.
She appeared on a TV news debate and called the collapse a ‘natural calamity’. Not just this, apparently she also went on to blame pedestrians for this tragedy.
She was quoted as saying,
“My heart goes out to the people who are reportedly dead because they did not deserve this. Having said this, I would not agree to the fact that there was a governance deficit. Could this have been avoided? Perhaps, yes. I have been closely monitoring this. In the last two years, there have been two major bridge collapses in Mumbai – Elphinstone and Gokhale. The fact remains that in both the cases, a large part of the blame was on pedestrians.”
This didn’t go down well with the people, who slammed her on Twitter for her comments.
How can you be so insensitive, these are fellow Indians who have died due to poor infrastructure maintenance. People who take this lightly and make stupid statements should be given free medical treatment.
— CandyMan (@CandyManSaga) March 15, 2019
THIS is what happens when you don’t question your leadership.
— Akash Banerjee (@akashbanerjee) March 14, 2019
(Any party, anywhere in the world)
It leads to this level of asinine arrogance. Even as people die @Sanju_Verma_ of the BJP says it’s the people who are at fault 🙏
#MumbaiBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/4qSxLwNQ7r
The more crassness spokespersons like @Sanju_Verma_ show about this horrific tragedy, the more the BJP will alienate the citizens of Mumbai. This bridge collapse has shocked the city, but more shocking is the buck passing and this kind of shamelessness of the ruling establishment https://t.co/CZSzKWRJRS
— Sidharth Bhatia (@bombaywallah) March 14, 2019
Someone please ask BJP spokesperson @Sanju_Verma_ to shut up on @TimesNow She is blaming pedestrians and common citizens for collapse of the bridge in Mumbai. Truly shameless comments. Anchor @navikakumar shut off her mike but she continues her obscene rant.
— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) March 14, 2019
This @Sanju_Verma_ should be sacked immediately! Senseless woman https://t.co/jpkYX6hjSa
— Atul Khatri (@one_by_two) March 14, 2019
So 5 people died in today’s #MumbaiBridgeCollapse.
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) March 14, 2019
BJP spokesperson calls it a “natural calamity”
Look at the photo, does it look like a natural calamity from any angle?
But be glad that they did not blame Nehru for this yet. pic.twitter.com/iq9FufoW1S
Sanju verma, a BJP spokesperson has already blamed the common man for this. Shameful https://t.co/O5hikBk8Zv
— Abhisar Sharma (@abhisar_sharma) March 15, 2019
Mumbai foot over bridge collapse: People shouldn’t have walked on the bridge. It is a natural calamity- BJP’s Sanju Verma
— Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) March 15, 2019
Sanju Verma is a man made disaster
pic.twitter.com/dWtimHk4Zi
Part of the bridge collapsed and it fell as low as Sanju Verma’s sensibilities. https://t.co/Gbzmy0LDHE
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) March 14, 2019
Later, the politician denied these claims saying that she was being misinterpreted.
No!I DID NOT blame the common man!I said,i stand with those who lost their dear ones;Watch the full 2hr long debate,rather than doing a hit job,which we all know is your USP!The pedestrian comment was what i quoted from the enquiry reports on #Elphinstone& #GokhleBridge collapse! https://t.co/0pOHphR5wM
— Sanju Verma (@Sanju_Verma_) March 15, 2019
Stop misquoting me..i said citizens &govt are both stakeholders in the governance paradigm& i cited #ElphinstoneBridge example to showcase how despite being given alternative FOBs at Currey Road&Ambivli,people chose to use Elphinstone FOB,despite being told it was being repaired! https://t.co/oUHpQ3jwg1
— Sanju Verma (@Sanju_Verma_) March 14, 2019
It is really painful to see this blame game when we should be worried about the rescue operations and investigating the loopholes in infrastructure.
