'Adopted Modi Govt's Uncaring Attitude...': Tharoor to Scindia in War of Words Over Delhi Airport Chaos

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday sustained an online war of words with civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scinida over chaos at the Delhi airport due to fog-related flight delays, and told him that it is a pity that he has adopted the Narendra Modi-led government’s “uncaring attitude” since switching sides.

In his fresh salvo at Scindia, who quit the Congress following differences with top leadership and joined the BJP in 2020, Tharoor issued a series of six posts on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in a point-by-point rebuttal of the union minister’s arguments.

Referring to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speeches delivered during the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, Tharoor said “it’s clear the suffering of the people is not the suffering of this government”. “My dear @JM_Scindia, it’s a pity that since switching sides you have adopted the Modi Government’s uncaring attitude to the public. As @RahulGandhi said during the #BharatJodoNyayYatra, it’s clear the suffering of the people is not the suffering of this government. Crores worth of economic value lost, lakhs of lives disrupted, and thousands of people unable to go about their daily lives during this festive season – and all the Hon Minister can do is to engage in name-calling…” he said in one of his posts in the thread on X.

Tharoor further said he is not denying the development and growth brought in by the central government, but simply pointing out that there are a number of “evident shortcomings” in its planning and its failure to be prepared or take action on problems that can be foreseen.

Taking a dig at Tharoor’s use of English, on Wednesday (January 17), Scindia had claimed that he is “lost in his esoteric world of thesaurus”, and for him “data mining of selective press articles from the internet qualifies as research”. The Congress leader had alleged, in a series of six posts on X, that the chaos at the Delhi airport is a result of the “neglect and incompetence” of the ministry of civil aviation, which has failed to put in place modern facilities like at other international airports of the world.

Scinidia, too, had posted a point-by-point rebuttal in an equal number of posts. Tharoor responded to Scindia, saying he does need an “esoteric thesaurus” to respond to the minister’s selective rebuttal of his thread and pointed out that the flights of at least 80,000 passengers were cancelled on January 14 and 15 alone, while many others were delayed causing more inconvenience.

“…Mantri ji, ahankaar chhodo, janata se maafi maango! (Minister, put aside your arrogance and apologise to the people),” the Congress leader added.

Tharoor also pointed out that runway maintenance work at the Delhi airport, which he said is critical for safety, began only in September 2023. “Why wasn’t maintenance started earlier, so it could be completed before the beginning of winter? The winter fog and ‘pollution incidents’ in Delhi are sadly an annual event that could and should have been planned for – which is exactly what your ministry failed to do,” he said in one of his posts.

Responding to Scindia’s argument that the crane was being used for the construction of another critical infrastructure project – the Dwarka Expressway, Tharoor said, “Ah, your ministry finally noticed the crane’s ‘impact on the runway’! Why did your govt wait almost 2 weeks to take a decision on the crane that was obstructing the runway? The crane’s violation of SOPs was flagged on 5th January, but no action was taken or announced until you tweeted this decision on 17th January!”

“Whatever ineffective show-cause notices the DGCA may be issuing, the reality is of acute pilot shortage, frequent flight diversions, and continuing agony for Indian travellers,” Tharoor said. “On December 29, 2023, 50 flights were diverted in the span of just 3 days because of a shortage of CAT-III trained pilots. That’s 86% of Delhi-bound flights! And don’t take my word for it, this was a statement by a DGCA official,” he said.

“Under the BJP government, thousands of crores have been wasted on the failed UDAN scheme. After 7 years, out of 493 subsidised routes, only 225 (about 47%) are still surviving. This is not even considering the 403 other routes that were awarded but could not even begin operations,” the Congress leader, citing a media report. “In 2014, the Airports Authority of India annual report shows that there were already 125 airports in India. In 10 years, you have been able to add just 20 airports. In comparison, from 2004 to 2014, the UPA added 35 operational airports,” he added.

On Wednesday, aviation regulators — Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) — imposed a hefty fines on three airline services and Mumbai airport operator MIAL for not adhering to standard operating procedures and security protocols. Air India and SpiceJet will have to pay fines up to Rs 30 lakh each for issues in rostering of pilots during onset of foggy conditions. IndiGo and MIAL will be paying Rs 1.2 crore and Rs 90 lakh, respectively, over the incident in which passengers were spotted eating on the tarmac amid flight delays, as per a video that went viral.

(With PTI inputs)