Yogi Adityanath visits Kushinagar accident site, asks protesters shouting slogans to stop ‘nautanki’

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday lost his cool while addressing the families of children killed in a bus accident at Kushinagar. [caption id=“attachment_4425643” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Reuters[/caption] Adityanath who rushed to the accident site for an on-the-spot assessment, was greeted with slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”. Angered by the sloganeering, he asked the crowd to stop the ’nautanki’ (drama),  News18 reported. The Quint quoted the chief minister as saying, “This is a tragedy and I ask you to stop creating a ruckus. Note what I’m saying, ye nautanki band kardo (stop with the drama)” Thirteen children were killed and eight others injured on Thursday when a train rammed into a school van at an unmanned railway crossing in Kushinagar . The children, students of Divine Public School, were killed on the spot when the Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train crashed into the vehicle carrying them. After inspecting the site, Adityanath had said that prima facie the van driver appeared to be at fault. “He is said to have put earphones on… all the facts will be known in the inquiry headed by the commissioner of Gorakhpur,”, he told the media. He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for families of the victims. The chief minister said that he has spoken to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on the issue of train accidents at unmanned crossings and appealed to him to make them manned and, if required, ensure construction of railway overbridges. With inputs from PTI