Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Fine gesture by PM Modi' that was published in Newsband

Fine gesture by PM Modi

The plane carrying the Congress president Rahul Gandhi developed a snag before landing at Hubballi airport on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Rahul Gandhi just before leaving for China on Wednesday to enquire about the latter's safety. The incident occurred in poll-bound Karnataka where Gandhi is on a two-day visit to the State to canvass for his party for the May 12 Assembly polls.

After the development of the technical snag, the plane tilted heavily on the left side and the altitude dipped steeply with violent shuddering of the aircraft at 10.45 a.m. The plane landed at the Hubballi airport at 11.25 a.m. in the third attempt.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is examining the issue, while the State police have registered a complaint. The Congress has demanded a thorough probe into the incident. Congress’s communications in charge Randeep Surjewala described the failure of the auto-pilot mode in the aircraft as “horrific” and “serious” and demanded a probe to find out if there was any “foul play”.

The pilot should be lauded for handling the situation till safe landing. But technical snag of the craft should be examined by the experts and those found guilty should be punished. PM’s call to Gandhi is really appreciable. As a general citizen we expect political leaders should be cordial, cooperative, constructive, not only in such type of situation, but also during the parliament session also for the best of the country.

It is true that Gandhi is an expert in politics but one can’t expect him to know about controlling an aircraft in such situations. How can he save the situation? Yes, his father was a pilot. But this knowledge doesn't come to you through genes.

But one should appreciate the action of the Prime Minister. He called Gandhi immediately after he got to know about the incident. It’s a very good act by Modi. Thus he proved himself as a great statesman.

Did Congress ever demand a probe when Sanjay Gandhi or Rajesh Pilot was killed in aircraft incident? What was the outcome? And why that was not made public?

Attention should be paid to such incidents even when common people are involved in such accidents like it happened in North India. Such an incident becomes an issue only when a politician is involved in it.

There is need to make the mention again about the very good gesture by PM Modi to enquire about the incident by directly talking to Gandhi and it is better if an Independent Enquiry is ordered and in the future care should be taken that all safety measures are followed before taking the aircraft for flying. And also based on the outcome of the enquiry whoever is at fault must be punished for the carelessness without any bias.