Condemning the violence triggered over the cancellation of stoppage of some trains at a station in Bihar, former railway minister Lalu Prasad said the destruction of national property cannot be justified.
Although he supported the idea of opening new halts for people's convenience and disapproved of the decision to cancel train stoppages there, he did not blame Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for the incident and said "Mamta ji may not be even aware of any such thing (of cancelling train stoppage)."
"A few officers took the decision without properly considering the issue. I had apprehensions that people would react to it," he said and instead blamed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for being "unable" to handle the (law and order) matter deftly.
"Nitish should have handled the issue. He should have visualised that such things could happen. His officers should have been cautious. It's the responsibility of the state's rail police to take care of these things (attack on trains)," he said.
Asked what step he would take now, Prasad shot back saying, "what can I do now. Am I the Railway Minister. If officers are doing wrong, Mamta will now tackle it."
