Trinamool MP makes a political attack in Lok Sabha

Mahua Moitra slams chants of ‘Modi, Modi’. 

Parliament has been turned into Rome’s Colosseum where the Prime Minister Narendra Modi enters “like a gladiator to the chants of Modi, Modi,” Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Mahua Moitra said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Participating in the debate on the demands for grants for the Ministry of Civil Aviation for 2022-23, Ms. Moitra invoked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to attack the government and went on to read out the names of women pioneers in the field of aviation who “truly deserve applause”.

Opening the debate, Congress’ Ravneet Singh Bittu questioned the government’s flagship regional connectivity scheme, UDAN, and claimed that only 405 of the 948 routes identified under UDAN have been operational.

Expressing concern over the cut in the allocations for the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB), Mr. Bittu said, “In the wake of the recent air crash in China, I would urge the Minister to seek greater allocations for the three divisions at the revised estimate stage.”

Echoing the Congress member on UDAN, Ms. Moitra questioned the need for a separate Aviation Ministry and suggested that it should be merged with the Transport Ministry, as is done in countries like the U.S. and Canada and the government should focus on easing the operational difficulties faced by private airlines.

She claimed that if one took away the debt financing of the erstwhile national carrier, Air India, then the Civil Aviation Ministry’s Budget was a meagre ₹1,242 crore. “Why do we need a separate Ministry for Civil Aviation?” she asked.