Ahmedabad plane crash: Those responsible must resign, says Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said that people responsible for the June 12 Air India flight crash in Ahmedabad must tender their resignations. Speaking to reporters in Lucknow, Yadav said, "Think about the accident that happened in Ahmedabad, no one has resigned till now. Think about what happened -- one moment they were alive, the next moment they were not. In so few seconds, people lost their lives. Where the aircraft fell, how many doctors died? How many people lost their family members?"

On June 12, the London-bound Air India flight AI171 -- a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner -- crashed shortly after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Gujarat's Ahmedabad. The flight, with 242 passengers and crew on board, crashed into buildings in a nearby medical college campus, resulting in the death of around 270 people. Asserting his point, Akhilesh said, "We were not asking for resignations for Pulwama, we were not asking for resignations for Pahalgam. But at least the government and those who are responsible for this plane crash should resign from their posts." Interrupting a query from a reporter, the SP chief said, "I do not know who is saying what, but this is considered by the whole world as such a safe aircraft. We do not want to get embroiled in that debate, the responsibility lies with the government."

He said ever since the privatisation began, people were being removed from their jobs, which were being "given to people close to those in power". "Was it not the case that in order to get jobs for their own people, incompetent people were made to sit in these posts? This is not an ordinary issue," Yadav said. "Imagine, with the visuals you and I saw, (we) cannot sit in the aircraft on which we used to move day and night. Think how unsafe it is, and how many doubts the crash has raised," he said. The AI171 took off at 1.39 pm on June 12 and started sinking seconds later, from a height of about 650 feet. Soon after, the pilot sent a 'Mayday' call to the Ahmedabad Air Traffic Controller. The flight crashed into a medical college campus in Meghaninagar, killing all aboard except a single passenger. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was among those killed in the crash.