File photo: Passengers stand at the Railway platform in New Delhi to board a train
The decision to make train travel more expensive is "like running over the common man with a train," says the Shiv Sena, which participates in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's coalition government.'
However, the Sena, headed by Uddhav Thackeray, has not asked for a rollback of the 14% hike, announced by the government on Friday. An editorial in the party's magazine asks for "this hike to be the final one."
The Sena has 18 parliamentarians and one minister in the union government; in Mumbai, fares on local trains, used by lakhs of commuters, are expected to double. Given that the BJP has a parliamentary majority on its own strength, notes of disapproval, however explicit, from allies like the Sena may rankle but are not binding.
On Friday, the government delivered the first dose of "the bitter medicine" that the Prime Minister has warned is needed to revive the economy. From June 25, rail passenger fares will increase by 14.2 per cent and freight rates by 6.5 per cent. (
Bitter medicine to be Swallowed for Economy: Venkaiah Naidu)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other BJP leaders have defended the hike as necessary, and pointed out the previous government deferred a plan to increase fares in May, leaving the decision, bound to be unpopular and contentious, to Mr Modi's new administration. (
Rail Fare Hike Difficult But Correct Decision, Says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley)
Indian trains are among the world's cheapest. A ticket on an overnight sleeper train running the roughly 1,400 kilometres between New Delhi and Kolkata, for example, can cost as little as Rs 520. The country's railway network is one of the world's largest, but years of low investment and populist policies to subsidise fares at affordable levels have crimped growth in new lines and hindered private investment.
The Opposition has taunted the PM by acerbically questioning if these are the "achche din" (good times) that he promised to voters when soliciting their support in his campaign for the election.