Ahmedabad plane crash: Government must fix accountability for AI-171 accident, says Kharge

Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Pawan Khera and others during a visit to the site of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 14, 2025. | Photo Credit: X/@kharge via PTI

Visiting the Air India flight AI-171 crash site at Ahmedabad on Saturday (June 14, 2025), Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the government must fix accountability and not adopt a stance that “accidents do happen”.

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“Nobody should take such incidents lightly and say such things keep happening, or that this is routine. I would also like to say that nobody should try to take credit by visiting the site or meeting the injured and then getting photos clicked,” Mr. Kharge said.

Though he did not name anyone, Mr. Kharge’s remarks seemed to be a reference to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s comments after visiting the crash site on Thursday (June 12, 2025), when he said: “I want to tell you one thing. It was an accident. No one can stop accidents.”

Compensation and accountability

At the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, Mr. Kharge met injured people, including the lone survivor of the plane crash, and others injured on the ground, including medical students. He later told reporters that the Centre must give compensation to the kin of the deceased and to the injured.

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“The government must give compensation to kin of plane crash victims and fix accountability,” Mr. Kharge said, when reporters pointed out that neither the State nor Union governments have announced any compensation amount as yet.

Mr Kharge was accompanied by Gujarat Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary for Gujarat Mukul Wasnik.

‘Time to be united in grief’

The Congress chief said he would not say anything about the need for an inquiry as it is currently a time of grief. “The black box has been found. Let its findings come. After that, we will raise demands accordingly,”he said.

AICC general secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is on a two-day tour of Kerala, also said it was the time to be “united in grief”.

“It is a moment where we need to stand together and just provide solidarity,” she said. “It is being investigated. I am sure the investigating agencies will in the next few days enlighten the nation as to what happened. Then in the future, whatever corrective measures need to be taken, will be taken to protect people and lives,” she added.

Published - June 14, 2025 11:18 pm IST