Terror struck 136km from Writers’ Buildings with 48 hours to go for the municipal polls, lending an edge to the politics of tragedy.

The three protagonists in the crucial election presented varied voices and contrasting faces as the enormity of the tragedy on the Jnaneswari Express unfolded during the day. The chief minister maintained his poise while his party tore into his arch rival even as the state Congress boss chose to defuse the Trinamul chief’s blast theory.

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee — in the unambiguous garb of the Trinamul Congress chief — was the first off the blame-game blocks on Friday. She blamed a blast (without enough evidence), blamed the state government (without any evidence) and blamed a conspiracy (without even an effort to find evidence).

Picture by Amit Datta

2102 Jnaneswari Express

Full name: Howrah-Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Jnaneswari Super Deluxe Express Named after: 13th century saint Jnaneswar. He translated the Bhagvad Gita into Marathi Started in: 1998, thrice a week. From 2003, four days a week Departure from Howrah: 10.55pm on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Reaches Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai at 5.45am Distance covered: 1953km Time taken: 30 hours 50min (less than Gitanjali Express — 31 hours 4min)

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Howrah station (New Complex) •10722 (Toll free) • 2638-2217 • 2641-1416 • 2641-1425 • 2641-5513 Kharagpur • 03222-255751 • 03222-255735 Tatanagar • 0657-2290324 • 0657-2290074 • 0657-2290382 Chakradharpur • 06587-238072 Rourkela • 0661-2511155 Jharsuguda • 06645-270977 Bilaspur • 07752-417814 Raipur • 0771-2872326

Number of halts: 14 Average speed: 66kmph Major towns: Kharagpur, Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Bilaspur, Raipur, Durg, Nagpur, Akola Classification: Super Deluxe. Initially, only AC. Non-AC coaches added later Composition: 2 general seating, 10 sleeper class, 1 AC-I, 2 AC 2-tier, 5 AC 3-tier, 1 Pantry car, 2 luggage vans Fare: Rs 3,190 (AC-I), Rs 1,883 (AC 2-tier), Rs 1,374 (AC 3-tier), Rs 508 (sleeper class), Rs 270 (general seating) Feedback from cross-section of passengers: • Convenient timing • Mostly runs on time • AC coaches well-maintained • Well-guarded by armed police officers • Food edible and served on time

“There was an orchestrated effort to cause damage. The incident is the result of a conspiracy. But it’s a question of law and order and that is a state subject,” she declared at the site where the Jnaneswari Express lay in a macabre heap on Friday morning.

“What do I do? Should I stop running trains through these areas? Let the state government say that it cannot provide security in these places, only then can I take trains off these stretches. It has to be found out who conspired and did it,” Mamata thundered, before stopping short of a trademark pre-poll diatribe against Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and, instead, announcing an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh for the victims and Rs 1 lakh for the injured.

Around the same time, the chief minister was showing trademark restraint at the Press Club on the Maidan. He did lay the blame at the “dastardly” door of the Maoists for claiming “innocent lives”, but he refused to take a political potshot at his arch rival on poll eve.

Prodded about the alleged Mamata-Maoist nexus and the blot on the railway minister’s record, Bhattacharjee chose to focus on the human tragedy and not on the hustings. “We have been struck by a big tragedy. So many people have died. I don’t want to speak on any other issue today,” he said, cutting short the media conference and rushing off to Midnapore and Kharagpur.

His party, though, could not be accused of restraint. The CPM politburo was quick to wade into Mamata. “The persistent denial of the existence of Maoist activities in West Bengal by the railway minister may have led to the lack of preparedness of the authorities,” read a statement from the politburo, adding that “this terrible tragedy has been compounded by the irresponsible absence of due diligence on the part of the railway authorities”.

The CPM central leadership went to the extent of asking for the “Prime Minister’s personal intervention” to ensure that the railways, in co-ordination with security agencies, step up safety measures to protect passengers in all Maoist-affected areas.

CPM state secretary and Left Front chairman Biman Bose wielded the train disaster like a pre-poll mace, swinging it at Mamata’s face. “The railway minister should own up responsibility for the disaster. It is unfortunate that at a time when the Prime Minister is repeatedly calling for firm action against the Maoists, the railway minister has tried to cover up the activities of such evil forces.”

CPM state secretariat member Mohammad Salim chose a rapier thrust. “Maoists are pillion riders on Mamata’s motorcycle,” he said, before revving it up: “The railways had recently decided not to run trains in the night through Maoist-hit areas, but the minister struck it down. If trains don’t run in the night, it would prove that Maoists are active here and prove the Trinamul leader wrong as she has said there are no Maoists in the state.”

The Congress was almost muted, mirroring the silence witnessed when Mamata was slammed in Parliament for being in Bengal while a motormen strike crippled Mumbai.

Sections of the party in Calcutta and the capital have been “seething” over Mamata’s Congress-baiting following the collapse of the alliance over seat-sharing for the civic polls.

Union finance minister and Bengal Congress president Pranab Mukherjee condemned the “senseless violence” but pointedly did not toe the Mamata line on the cause of the tragedy. “Till now there is no evidence of an explosion on the tracks. This was a most unfortunate incident and I must express my condolence to the next of kin of those killed,” said Mukherjee, who has been slamming Mamata in his poll campaign in and around Calcutta.

On Thursday, he had even dared the Trinamul chief to withdraw support to the UPA government.

Explosive was the mood in the CPM camp with politburo member Sitaram Yechury labelling Mamata a “total failure” as railway minister.

If he and his comrades stopped short of demanding her resignation, some members of the “We Hate Mamata Banerjee” community on Facebook did not. “Will Mamata Banerjee finally offer her resignation?” was a scathing query on the social networking site. “If Praful Patel could (after the Mangalore air crash), why can’t Mamata?” was another demand.

Patel had offered to resign on the day of the Mangalore tragedy but the Prime Minister had rejected it.

“She won’t resign, for fear that the PM will happily accept it!” was the clincher from another Netizen.

Should Mamata have resigned as railway minister? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com