New Delhi: Hideki Makihara, former Japanese minister of justice, has blamed the Indian government for delays in the India-Japan bullet train project, alleging that the Indian side dishonoured promises made during negotiations and kept “pushing their own self-interest”.
“For the honour of all Japanese folks who poured their hearts into this, I have to say it: I feel 100 percent that the reason this hasn’t moved forward is entirely the Indian side”, Makihara wrote in a post on X Wednesday.He also wrote about the minister in-charge being “especially awful”, adding, “if the top guy’s like that, there’s no way to have any decent dealings”.
The tweet by the Japanese politician came just days before India’s first hydrogen train was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Haryana’s Jind.Congress MP Pawan Khera used the Japanese politician’s post to take a jibe at the ruling dispensation, calling it “another feather in PM Modi and the Reel Minister’s cap”, and criticising the government for handling the project in “such a disgraceful way that the government’s incompetence is now being criticised even by foreign officials”.
Another feather in PM Modi and the Reel Minister's cap.A former Japanese minister who was personally involved in the India–Japan Shinkansen project has claimed that, despite Prime Minister Takaichi's visit, the project failed and that Japan was excluded from the signalling… https://t.co/3ISN6NuhmN— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 ಪವನ್ ಖೇರಾ (@Pawankhera) July 17, 2026
