Malda (West Bengal): The Trinamool Congress on Sunday released a video purportedly showing a personnel, suspected to be a railway police official, beating a man seated at Malda railway station, just hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to flag off India’s first Vande Bharat sleeper train.

In the video, the police officer is seen using a cane to hit the man and forcing him to move from the station premises. The reason for the incident, however, remains unclear.

Mathrubhumi English has not independently verified the authenticity of the video.

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The video surfaced around the time when Modi on Sunday flagged off India's first Vande Bharat sleeper train from Malda in West Bengal, marking a key milestone in the ongoing modernisation of Indian Railways.

Sharing the video, the Trinamool Congress wrote on X, “As Prachar Mantri is coming to West Bengal today. We need to ask. Is this how @narendramodi welcomes India’s poor? By using central forces to intimidate, harass, and push aside the marginalised so that a photo-op stays clean and uninterrupted.

This is the reality of Modi’s governance. Optics over humanity. Spectacle over service. In Modi’s India, narratives are stage-managed, cameras are guarded, and the poor are treated as obstacles, not citizens. Cameras are protected. People are not.”

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Meanwhile, the state-of-the-art sleeper version of the Vande Bharat Express will operate on the Howrah–Guwahati (Kamakhya) route. The launch is part of a broader series of rail and infrastructure initiatives aimed at strengthening connectivity between eastern India and the Northeast.

Several development works are also underway at the New Jalpaiguri (NJP) Railway Station to upgrade it into a world-class facility.

Upon arriving in Malda, the Prime Minister interacted with students, railway staff, and train drivers present for the inaugural run of the sleeper train.

Modi also laid the foundation stone of multiple rail and road infrastructure projects worth Rs 3,250 crore to boost connectivity and accelerate development in West Bengal and the North-Eastern region.