Indian-American professor Dr Rajeshwari Iyer triggered a social media storm, blaming ‘reservation’ behind the Air India crash that killed at least 265 people, including those on board and also those on the ground. Sharing a recruitment notice of the Airports Authority of India for the post of Air Traffic Control, the Indian-origin professor argued that in India, safety is not as important as “freeloaders”. “In India, freeloaders are more important than Safety. Including Indian Citizens we lose many British citizens too, 241 died in plane crash. What a pathetic system,” she wrote. While many users supported her observation, many pointed out how Indian-origin people in America are jumping to conclusions about the crash. Indian-origin businessman, Hotmail co-founder, Sabeer Bhatia also made insensitive comments about people grieving for the Air India crash victims and also defended that comment.“The crash happened due to malfunctions in Boeing Dreamliner which is manufactured by USA company due to loss of thrust. There is no fault of crew. So chill a bit before farming,” one wrote, reacting to Dr Iyer’s reservation post. “Firstly, it’s too early to conclude anything. Also, desperately wish where one day such brilliant migrants and naturalised citizens of other “first world” nations ( whether through parents or self) like yourself, fix the flaws of this young Indian democracy and work towards ensuring that it comes out of years of colonial and outdated ideas and depredations,” another wrote. Some X users dug up Brahmin named behind accidents in India and slammed her for connecting the crash with caste, and also to the ATC, as there has been no report on ATC’s involvement know the crash. In the aftermath of the incident, Air India reduced its international services on wide-body aircraft by 15 per cent for the next few weeks. The decision has been taken to add to the airlines’ reserve aircraft availability to take care of any unplanned disruptions and this will continue until at least mid-July.
