- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE opposition Indian National Congress on Thursday (23) posted on social media some old photographs of former prime minister Manmohan Singh on board the Air India One, the official flight of India’s president, vice president and prime minister. It’s a Boeing 777-337 ER aircraft which replaced the ageing Boeing 747-400.
The Congress captioned the picture of Singh interacting with reporters on the flight as “some photographs are harder to copy”. The post was aimed at mocking prime minister Narendra Modi who posted a picture on Wednesday (22) from his flight to the United States in which he said, “A long flight also means opportunity to go through papers and some file work”.
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Some photographs are harder to copy.
Former PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing Press Conferences on board Air India One. pic.twitter.com/JiYlQcX0HE
— Congress (@INCIndia) September 23, 2021
Modi was seen going through file work with the seat next to him occupied by papers and a suitcase.
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The Congress, through his post, tried to convey that Singh even addressed press conferences during his flight, something that Modi is little known for. Singh served as the prime minister between 2004 and 2014 when his party was humbled by the BJP and Modi became the prime minister.
Indian prime ministers going through files while flying abroad is not something new. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who succeeded Jawaharlal Nehru as the country’s second prime minister in 1964 but could be in office for less than two years since he died in office, was also known for doing the same.
Old pic : My grandfather & Prime minister Sh. Lal Bahadur Shastri ji Reading Files In Aeroplane. pic.twitter.com/GoxjE9x797
— Vibhakar Shastri (@VShastri_INC) September 19, 2021
Another former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was also photographed working on official flights. So was PV Narasimha Rao.
How fast we are regressing under this regime. Here's Rajiv Gandhi working on a flight on a laptop in the 80s. Modiji using papers? pic.twitter.com/QRhm0i6g1h
— Drink water. (@NotAfangirll_) September 23, 2021
PM P V Narasimha Rao…
"Going through papers and some file work" inside a flight. pic.twitter.com/u4qGJcnXan— Puneet Agarwal (@puneet1agarwal) September 23, 2021
