oppn parties Congress Phobia: Aircraft Snag is Also 'Conspiracy'

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Congress Phobia: Aircraft Snag is Also 'Conspiracy'

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2018-04-30 19:51:12

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party are suffering from unnecessary phobias. Their reaction to the recent incident of his chartered plane developing snags and then facing turbulence that was not normal shows that they will blame the present government, especially Narendra Modi, even if the Gandhi scion develops a cold. Aircrafts are prone to developing snags. It is futile to say that the party sees a conspiracy to ground Rahul so that he is unable to campaign or even worse, incapacitate or liquidate him.

The importance the government attaches to his physical well-being was evident from the fact that the first phone call he received after landing was from PM Modi who called to ask if Rahul was hurt. Then, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) immediately constituted a two-member panel to enquire into the whole episode. But the Karnataka (ruled by the Congress) police are seeking to politicize the issue by lodging a police complaint against the operator and the pilot of the aircraft. The move has been resented by Business Aircraft Operators’ Association (BAOA) who have rightly pointed out that the DGCA is the competent authority to probe the issue and the police can only come in if any wrongdoing is detected by DGCA.

The Congress party has to realize that the police in Karnataka neither have the expertise nor the personnel to probe snags in aircrafts. They will only hamper and perhaps derail the DGCA investigation. Further, there are some set rules that are not to be disturbed. Leaving technical investigations to qualified people is one of them. Hence, the DGCA must be allowed to complete its investigation without any hindrance from the state police.

Despite alleging that the NDA has ushered in an Emergency like situation in India, Rahul Gandhi must admit that he and most others in the country are not stopped from carrying out their duties as opposition leaders, something which Indira Gandhi did not allow during the dreaded Emergency. Allegations against the government based on governance issues are welcome but allegations of foul play regarding aircrafts – something that can lead to murder – are not. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party must desist from making such baseless allegations.