Women afraid to fly MiG 21: BJP MP’s comment irks Lok Sabha speaker

BJP MP Arjun Ram Meghwal said women are afraid of flying MiG 21s due to their high accident rate.

BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha Arjun Ram Meghwal faced the ire of the Speaker for saying that women are afraid of flying MiG-21 fighters due to its high accident rate.

IAF's women pilots celebrate after their passing out parade at Air Force Academy near Hyderabad. BJP MP Arjun Ram Meghwal said women are afraid of flying MiG 21s due to their high accident rate. (PTI file photo)

While asking a supplementary to defence minister Manohar Parrikar on induction of women in IAF’s combat stream, Meghwal said women are afraid of flying MiG 21s due to their high accident rate.

“Don’t say like that,” speaker Sumitra Mahajan told Meghwal.

“Do you agree?” she asked the defence minister, who immediately replied in the negative..

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Arjun Ram Meghwal with his cycle after attending the first day of the Monsoon session on Tuesday.

Meghwal then sought to explain that what he actually meant was that awareness should be organised at NCC and school level against the fear of flying.

Parrikar said since the MiG 21 is a single-engine fighter jet, any problem in the machine means the pilot has to bail out.

He said the government has stressed on improved maintenance of the aircraft and India has achieved a very low accident rate in the last decade, including the lowest in 2013.