Air India boarding pass with PM Modi’s photo kicks up row, airline withdraws it

Air India has decided to “roll back” its boarding passes bearing photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani after they came in for criticism.

Air India has decided to “roll back” its boarding passes bearing photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani after they came in for criticism.

The airline had earlier said the passes, featuring the photographs which were third-party advertisements, would be withdrawn if they are found to be in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

“Air India has decided to roll back the boarding passes of Vibrant Gujarat which had photos of the prime minister and the Gujarat chief minister,” said Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar

Former Punjab DGP Shashi Kant on Monday tweeted a photograph of his boarding pass issued at the New Delhi airport, questioning how pictures of the two leaders could be on it.

“At New Delhi airport today March 25th, 2019. My Air India Boarding Pass, prominently flashes Narendra Modi, “Vibrant Gujrat” & Vijay Rupani. Picture of boarding pass is below. Wonder why we are wasting public money on this Election Commission, which doesn’t see, hear or speak…,” he tweeted.

The Air India spokesperson said the boarding passes seemed to be printed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit held in January and the photographs were part of the advertisement from ‘third parties’.

“The rolls seem to be the ones left over from the boarding passes printed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and the photos are third-party advertisements. It has nothing to do with Air India. These boarding passes are not just for Gujarat, but are in use across India,” Kumar said.

On March 20, tickets with photos of the prime minister were withdrawn by the railways after the Trinamool Congress complained to the Election Commission about them.

The railways had also said that it was a third-party ad and leftover from a pack of tickets printed a year earlier. The national transporter had instructed zones to withdraw the tickets.

Newsletter

Prime Minister Modi inaugurates Atal Tunnel - longest tunnel above 10000 ft

Ladakh: The Prime Minister today inaugurated the Atal Tunnel and took the inaugural drive through in the 9km long tunnel...

Orissa High Court Order regarding migrant workers entry into Orissa put on hold by the Supreme Court

The Orissa High Court order to permit the entry of migrant workers only if they tested Negative for COVID-19 was put on...

Coronavirus Lockdown - First Flights To Bring Back Indians Stranded Abroad Land In Kerala

On Monday, the central government announced plans to begin a massive repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad, dubbe...

Reacting to Trump's retaliation threat India allows Hydroxychloroquine export

In a move after Trump's threat to retaliate if India fails to send medicines, India has lifted ban of export of ess...

All Domestic Passenger Flights Suspended from Midnight Tomorrow

The operations of all domestic schedule commercial airlines will stop operations from 23.59pm on March 24, a government...

Iran says it ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukrainian plane, blames ‘human error’

Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the US and Canada, citing intelligence, sa...