Amid an economic slowdown, India’s defence minister, bit by the adventure bug takes a jet ride.
India faces one of the worst economic slowdowns ever. Rajnath Singh became the first defence minister in history to fly a combat aircraft.
- Amid a water crisis, severe unemployment and an overall economic slowdown, the Indian minister takes off from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Bitten by the adventure bug or a show of power?
- The aircraft Rajnath Singh flew aboard was HAL Tejas with Air Vice Marshal N Tiwari. Tiwari is also Project Director at the National Flight Centre, ADA.
- The light combat aircraft, HAL Tejas is an indigenously made single-engine multirole light fighter.
- The aircraft HAL Tejas is the replacement for an older light combat aircraft, MiG-21. HAL introduced Tejas in 2003 and provides the same for the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.
- Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh wore a green flight suit, donning a white helmet. Sitting in the backseat of the aircraft, he waved out to the on-lookers while taking off.
- In two tweets, the minister proudly posted photos of himself in a flight suit, captioning, “All set for the day.”
Laudable efficiency
- Addressing the citizens of the country and coming up with plans to create peace and prosperity is definitely in the to-do list of Indian ministers.
- A flight sortie is useful for the aircraft pilots. But is this a real requirement for the Defence Minister’s job portfolio?
Thank you Uprashtrapatiji, but the real credit must go to HAL, DRDO, IAF and several other agencies.
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 19, 2019
Thanks to these agencies, today we have reached a level where we can export fighter planes across the world. https://t.co/Lgtw3r83Si
- We are intrigued by The defence minister’s efficiency, having the time to deal with all these issues AND taking a fighter jet ride in between.
- Over 23.6% of India’s population; 276 million Indians lives in a state of poverty. It can be argued how the taxpayers’ money used for the flight is helpful in tackling the current challenges India faces?
