Ahok Gajapathi Raju, Civil Aviation Minister

You could admire Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju’s candour, but it is still a little difficult to excuse him for travel habits that violate airport security rules. At a Bureau of Civil Aviation Security event, Raju offered an anecdotal insight on how his life had changed after becoming minister. He said that he was a chain smoker who always kept a matchbox or lighter with him; and while as a regular civilian he would be frisked before boarding, and have his matchbox confiscated, now, as a minister, no one checks him and he takes it aboard the plane.

A little worried about what he had said, he quickly tried to make amends by then arguing that matchboxes were not a safety hazard. That might be true; but then why doesn’t his ministry take matchboxes off the list of items that cannot be carried onto a plane? Also, there might not have been any ‘incident worldwide where a matchbox became a threat’, but who is to say what a terrorist can do with the ability to set something on fire inside an aircraft cabin? Perhaps it is time India’s Civil Aviation Minister was also frisked before boarding a flight. At least he won’t then face the hazard of putting his foot in his mouth.

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