Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, while addressing a protesting crowd in Kushinagar on Thursday, instructed them to stop their sloganeering and nautanki. The massive crowd had gathered to protest the collision of a school van with a train that killed 13 children and injured eight, and included parents and relatives of the deceased children.
A short video clip (above) shows Adityanath shouting over a megaphone to the crowd: “It’s a tragic situation. Stop your sloganeering, stop this drama. I’m still saying, note my words. Stop this nautanki (drama). It’s a tragic accident.”
According to News18, however, Adityanath was addressing a crowd that gathered around his cavalcade and started chanting slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Matram”. Adityanath told them, “Kindly let us go through the area and inspect the accident site.”
A journalist at CNN News 18 uploaded a video on Twitter to the same effect:
The accident occurred in the Kushinagar district on Thursday morning, at an unmanned railway crossing. There were at least 25 passengers on the school van, all students of Divine Public School and according to The Quint, all children who lost their lives were below 10 years of age.
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