The war of words between Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Union Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia continued on Thursday when the former said he doesn't 'need an "esoteric thesaurus" to respond' to the latter. Shashi Tharoor and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia engaged in a war of words over flight delays due to fog and the ensuing chaos at the Delhi airport, with the Congress leader terming it a "Modi Government-made disaster" and the minister hitting back at him with the "arm-chair critic" jibe.
On Wednesday, Scindia claimed Tharoor is "lost in his esoteric world of thesaurus", and for him "data mining of selective press articles from the internet qualifies as "research".
To which, the Thiruvananthapuram MP in a series of posts on X said, "I don't need an "esoteric thesaurus" to respond to @jm_scindia's selective rebuttal of my thread yesterday. Some 80,000 passengers had their flights cancelled on January 14th and 15th alone, with lakhs more suffering through incessant delays. It would be prudent for the Honourable Minister to apologise to them for the agony and distress that his Government has caused, enabled, and overseen rather than engage in nugatory name-calling. Mantri-ji, ahankaar chhodo, Janata se maafi maango!"
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He further said, "Runway maintenance work is indeed critical for safety. However, maintenance for the one other CAT-III B runway at Delhi Airport only began 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."
"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!," he added.
"Whatever ineffective show-cause notices the DCGA may be issuing, the reality is of acute pilot shortage, frequent flight diversions, and continuing agony for Indian travellers. 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."
"This is complete misdirection and obfuscation. In 2014, India had 6-7 major airlines, none of which had even 1/3rd market share. Today, there are just two companies with over 90% of the market."
"Further, 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."
Talking about Modi Government’s uncaring attitude to the public, Tharoor said, "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."
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"I am not denying that there has been some growth. Nor am I blaming the Govt for the weather. I am pointing out that there are a number of evident shortcomings in the Govt's planning & its failure to take pro-active action on problems that could easily have been anticipated."
"The Hon Minister would be better served by shifting his focus from my arm-chair and my diligent researchers to the agony of the passengers. Perhaps, then he would find time to fix the myriad incompetencies, absolute lack of preparation, and the glaring loopholes in his Ministry’s functioning."
