Ravi Shankar Prasad Goes On Digital India Campaigns While Air Force Pilot Still In Pak Custody

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law and Justice, Information Technology, busied himself with inaugurating the ‘digital village’ in Chirpura in the Patna district whilst the country reeled in angst and dismay over the loss of an Air Force fighter jet. An Indian Air Force pilot — Wing Commander Abhinandan — too remains in Pakistan’s custody for now. The focus of Prasad’s attention, yet, remained a village in Bihar, where he felicitated various beneficiaries of Digital India.

Also inaugurated the digital village in Chirpura village of Patna district and felicitated various beneficiaries of #DigitalIndia program.
आज पटना ज़िले के चिरपुरा गाँव को भी डिजिटल गाँव के रूप में उद्घाटन किया। साथ ही डिजिटल इंडिया के विभिन्न लाभार्थियों को सम्मानित भी किया। pic.twitter.com/744GDpPQZH

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) February 27, 2019

Prasad, like a few other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, did not stop either campaigning or performing sundry duties on camera. While many on social media slammed Union Minister Rajnath Singh for carrying on with a Bharatiya Janata Party election event in Bilaspur, others also condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political activities, pointing out his disregard towards the missing Air Force pilot.

Prasad seems to have been touring all day. Prior to Chirpura, he had been inaugurating a digital village in Sonagopalpur in Patna.

Inaugurated Sonagopalpur village in Patna district as digital village.

पटना ज़िले के सोनागोपालपुर गाँव को डिजिटल गाँव बनाया गया है। आज इसका उद्घाटन करने के बाद यहाँ के लोगों की ख़ुशी देख कर बहुत अच्छा लगा। #DigitalIndia pic.twitter.com/5H62nou8qX

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) February 27, 2019

Social media users have started asking the Minister to come home to the real issues, concerning Abhinandan, the Air Force pilot’s return.

Shame shame आज हमारे जवान शहीद हुए हैं आतंकवाद का गढ़ पाकिस्तान नें हमारे वायुसेना के जवान को गिरफ़्तार कर लिया इस समय तो आपको दिल्ली में होना चाहिए था और विचार विमर्श करते की हमारे सैनिक को वापस भारत कैसे लाया जाए पर आप तो बिहार में हंसते हुए फोटो खींचा रहे हो। शर्मनाक

— Salman Ahmad Khan سلمان أحمد خان (@SalmanAhmad2019) February 27, 2019

It's shame.. When we r in war like situation & but u r busying in election campaign

— Kalim Ahmad کلیم احمد (@Er_Kalim) February 27, 2019

https://twitter.com/AjitPan41184261/status/1100736075021119494

In contrast, the Indian National Congress’ president Rahul Gandhi’s social media profile on Twitter maintained campaign silence for the day, with no other tweets except the ones reading, “I am sorry to hear that one of our brave IAF pilot is missing… We stand by our armed forces in these difficult times.”

Also read: I Hope He Will Return Home Soon: Rahul Gandhi on IAF Pilot Missing in Action