Congress slams Shah's remarks on Ahmedabad crash as 'insensitive'

The Congress on Friday termed Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks in Ahmedabad following a plane crash "insensitive", and said the least he could offer is a promise of accountability, not a "shrug and a lecture on fate".

Sharing a brief clip from the home minister's remarks, Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said Shah's "nobody can stop accidents" remark was an abdication.   

 

"When a plane crashes and people die, the least a home minister can offer is a promise of accountability, not a shrug and a lecture on fate. Nobody can stop accidents' is an abdication. If nothing can be prevented, why do we have ministries at all," Khera asked in a post on X. 

 

"Aviation accidents are not acts of God - they are preventable. That's why we have aviation regulators, safety protocols, and crisis response systems," Khera said.

Going by the home minister's logic, should we stop investing in safety infrastructure, regulation, or crisis preparedness altogether, Khera asked.

"Just leave it to fate and call it a day?" Khera said.

There was no immediate reaction to Khera's remarks from the BJP.

Tagging Khera's post, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X, "Is this what the Union Home Minister should be saying now? It is most insensitive." 

  Shah said on Thursday that the temperature in the Air India plane which crashed in Ahmedabad was so high due to burning fuel that there was no chance of saving anyone.

 

 

There was 1.25 lakh litre of fuel inside the plane and it caught heat, so it was impossible to save anyone, Shah told reporters.

The entire nation is in deep shock following the tragedy, he said.

Shah also expressed condolences to the relatives of those killed in the accident.

"The good news is that one person survived the crash and I am coming here after meeting him," he said.

Air India said 241 of the 242 persons on board the flight died in the crash, which also killed residents of a medical college as it crashed onto the building.