Atal Bihari Vajpayee never made this purported statement about Privatization - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 9, 2022
A post is being shared on social media with a newspaper clip about the privatisation of Indian railways. The Hindi text in the paper clip translates to ‘109 trains will go into private hands.’ It also quotes the former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, indicating that the former PM was against the privatisation. The statement attributed to him in the viral post when translated to Hindi reads , “History is witness that the only reason for selling the heritage of a country is the inefficiency of the government of that country, such governments should be thrown out‘ Let’s fact-check this post through this article.
Claim: Former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s quote which shows he is against privatization of the government assets.
Fact: In July 2020, the Indian railways invited a ‘Request for Qualification’ (RFP)’  for private participation for passenger train operations on 109 pairs of routes. The private entity shall pay fixed haulage and energy charges to the Indian Railways and provide a share in the gross revenue. In May 2022, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw ruled out the privatization of railways. As far as the quote attributed to Atal Bihar Vajpayee in the post, we did not find any credible source to prove that he made that statement. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
A keyword search on the internet regarding 109 trains going into private hands, we found a few news reports (here and here) from 2020 regarding the same. Reportedly, ‘The Ministry of Railways has given invitation to private parties to run passenger trains on 109 routes.‘
Piyush Goyal, the then railway minister then tweeted a press release saying, ‘Railways invites Request for Qualifications for private participation for passenger train operations on 109 pairs of routes through 151 modern trains. This initiative will boost job creation, reduce transit time, and provide enhanced safety & world-class facilities to passengers.’
According to the press release, the private entity shall pay fixed haulage and energy charges to the Indian Railways and provide a share in the gross revenue. It was nowhere mentioned that the government would completely sell railways or these trains to private entities who win the bidding. They shall only be responsible for procuring, financing, operating and maintaining the trains.
Railways invites Request for Qualifications for private participation for passenger train operations on 109 pairs of routes through 151 modern trains.
This initiative will boost job creation, reduce transit time, provide enhanced safety & world-class facilities to passengers. pic.twitter.com/uG2dhdbG3b
On reverse image search of the post’s image, we found a tweet from 2020 which contained the full paper clipping of this news item. From the email in the byline, the news clipping seems to be from ‘Peoples Samachar’ and is also about the same tender that the Indian Railways has called for. We could not find the original newspaper clipping. On further search about the privatization of Indian railways, we found that in May 2022, the railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw ruled out the privatization of Indian Railways. News reports regarding this can be read here and here.
प्राइवेट हाथों में जाएँगी 109 ट्रेनें  :
मैं देश नहीं बिकने दूँगा अभियान जारी है ……. pic.twitter.com/gAkHDsKF1z
To find out if Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India, had made the statement, ‘History is witness that the only reason for selling the heritage of a country is the inefficiency of the government of that country, such governments should be thrown out-.‘, we searched the internet with relevant keywords. But the search has not led us to any credible source that confirmed Vajpayee making this statement.
During the tenure of Vajpayee as the Prime Minister of India, in three terms between 1996 to 2004, the Indian government made disinvestments in India’s public sector entities. Through disinvestments, the government sells its shareholding in public sector enterprises. You can see these details here.
In April 2000, Vajpayee, in his address at the conference of chief executives of public sector enterprises, said, ‘ To those who unthinkingly criticise our disinvestment policy, I have this to say: Ours is a well thought out strategy to revitalise the public sector by bringing in competition, granting greater operational flexibility, reducing surplus manpower and upgrading technology.’ He further said ‘I would urge everybody, especially workers, to dispel unfounded fears about the effects of disinvestment. We are fully aware of the legitimate and reasonable interests of employees, and we are committed to protecting them.’  You can read his full speech here and watch a video of this event here. A few articles on disinvestments during the Vajpayee-led- NDA government can be read here and here. All this proves that he was not against privatization.
To sum up, Atal Bihari Vajpayee never made this purported statement about selling the heritage of a country.