New Delhi/Mumbai, Jun 30 (PTI) The decision to disinvest Air India today came under attack from several parties, with NDA ally Shiv Sena mocking at the government saying it could “auction” Kashmir on the ground that it cannot pay the security costs involved. Maintaining that the Narendra Modi government “cannot be trusted”, the Shiv Sena also said how it could run the nation if it cannot run an airline. The CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress also attacked the decision and demanded that it be stopped forthwith. In an editorial, Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said: “Today the airline is being sold off as it has a debt of Rs 50,000 crore. Tomorrow the government will say they are unable to provide for the security cost of Kashmir valley and will thus auction it. They cannot be trusted.” Taking a dig at the BJP, it said if such a decision been taken by the previous Congress-led UPA government, the BJP would not have spared it. “Had this decision been taken by the previous government, the BJP would have exposed the Congress in public. The BJP would have asked how can a government that cannot run an airline, run the nation,” the Sena said. “But the BJP today has indulged in the sale of the national carrier,” it said and asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to spell out the reasons which turned the ‘Maharaja’ (the Air India’s characteristic logo) into a “beggar”. The party sought to know the reasons for Air India’s downfall and losses in the last few years, besides those responsible for turning the ‘Maharaja’ into a “beggar.” The Sena’s taunt came two days after Jaitley announced that the Cabinet has given “in-principle” approval for disinvestment of Air India. The editorial also said that the airline earlier had a market share of about 35 per cent which has gone down to a mere 16 per cent as many routes were sold off to private companies by the Civil Aviation Ministry. “This is corruption. If done during the Congress regime, the Modi dispensation had a chance to undo the damage. Why did they not do it,” it asked. The CPI(M), in a statement, said “the sale of Air India is part of the overall privatisation drive of the Modi government which is against national interest. It must be stopped forthwith.” It said the decision was taken “at a time when, after prolonged losses since 2008, the airline has started achieving operating profits of Rs 105 crore for the year 2015-16 and an estimated operating profit of around Rs 300 crore in 2016-17.” It said the national carrier was “crippled and burdened with debt due to monumental miscalculation and certain wrong decisions taken by successive governments at the Centre.” “It is now being made the scapegoat and sought to be privatised,” the CPI(M) Politbureau said. It said Air India’s privatisation “is being made with a bonanza to the perspective private buyer – the write off of the Rs 30,000 crore debt burden.” The move was “not for saving public money but for handing over national assets for a song and defrauding the exchequer for the benefit of private companies, both domestic and foreign,” the CPI(M) said. Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had yesterday criticised the decision to privatise Air India, saying “we do not support this”. “They (Centre) are trying to sell Air India entirely. Air India is the nation’s pride. We don’t support this,” she said at a public meeting in Burdwan. PTI
