'False statements': Piyush Goyal slams Kerala CM on allegations of attack on nuns in UP

Kochi, Mar 29: Slamming Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday dismissed the allegations as "false statements" that two nuns belonging to a Kerala-based congregation were "attacked" during a train journey via Uttar Pradesh recently.

 

"There was no attack on any nun whatsoever…the Chief Minister of the state (Kerala) is completely lying and making false statements when he says that," Goyal told a press conference in Kochi.

 

 

The alleged incident that occurred at Jhansi railway station on March 19 had its echoes in poll-bound Kerala last week with Chief Minister Vijayan taking it up with the Centre and Home Minister Amit Shah promising strong action.

 

 

Goyal said the local police, after receiving a complaint against the nuns, made an investigation whether the complaint was correct. The minister said if anybody complains, it is the duty of the police to launch an investigation.

 

 

"There was an allegation. Some people made a complaint (against the nuns). It is the duty of the police to find out whether the complaint is correct or wrong. Police made enquiries. Checked all their documents, made enquiries (to ensure) that they are genuine passengers going for the correct purpose and then immediately let them go," he said.

 

The Railway Minister also dismissed the allegations that the alleged student activists associated with a Sangh Parivar outfit bogged the nuns down and pulled them out of the train. "That is absolutely wrong", he said.

 

 

According to officials in Jhansi, the nuns were detained on March 19 after local Bajrang Dal activists complained that two women were allegedly being taken forcibly for religious conversion. The police had said there was no basis in the complaint and all four women later took the next train to their destination in Odisha.

 

Shah, who was in Kerala to campaign for the party ahead of the April 6 Assembly polls, had said, “I want to assure the people of Kerala that the culprits behind this incident will be brought to justice at the earliest.”