Jairam Ramesh alleged a Model Code of Conduct violation by IndiGo claiming that an announcement on two of its flights hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “something routine” and then immediately segued into an appeal to passengers to vote during the upcoming state elections.
Ramesh pointed out that there was no mention of the Election Commission in the vote appeal announcement, which, he said, was a “clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct”.
There was no immediate response from the airline to Congress leader’s claims.
However, hitting back at Jairam Ramesh, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on X shared an Election Commission communication and said there is an “ongoing awareness collaboration” between his ministry and the poll panel to encourage voter participation.
The Model Code of Conduct is in place since October 9, the day elections were announced for five states — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.
Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said: “Last week, I took flights to Aizawl and back to Delhi on Indigo. Both ways there was an announcement by the cabin crew that hailed the Prime Minister ‘Shri Narendra Modiji’ for something routine and inconsequential.”
“One of these announcements immediately segued into a vote appeal asking passengers to vote during upcoming state elections. Note that there was no mention of Election Commission in this announcement, a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct,” the Congress general secretary in-charge communications alleged.
The Congress leader then went on to target Prime Minister Modi calling him insecure.
“Never before has any prime minister gone to these lengths to stay in the public eye to shore up his own flailing image, especially in the run-up to crucial elections. Clearly, there is no limit to the man’s insecurities, the civil aviation minister’s sycophancy and the spinelessness of the airline concerned,” Ramesh said.
He then took potshots at IndiGo and said: “Small mercies that the flight I took on Wednesday to Raipur of another airline did not stoop to the same level. Good to see that some corporates are still resisting pressure from the Modi government and are following fair practices.”
Responding to Ramesh, Scindia posted on X, “For your kind information: this is part of an ongoing awareness collaboration between @MoCA_GoI & the ECI to encourage voter participation,” Scindia said.
“Next time, simply ask @Jairam_Ramesh. The world of armchair activism could do better with fewer false alarms,” he said.
The Congress leader responded to the Union minister and said, “The civil aviation minister seems to have wilfully given up on reading and comprehension since he switched sides. Which part of my post should I repeat again?”
The Congress and the BJP are locked in a direct contest in three Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Campaigning has picked up in all the five states with political parties going all out to woo voters.
(With inputs from PTI)