PM flags off Hisar-Ayodhya flight; lays foundation stone of new terminal building of airport

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Congress on the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, accusing the party of turning Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs into "second-class citizens" while it was in power.

Addressing a gathering after flagging off the first commercial flight from the Maharaja Agrasen airport here to Ayodhya and laying the foundation stone of a new terminal building at the airport, he alleged that the Congress has become the destroyer of the Constitution framed by Ambedkar.

"Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted to bring equality, but the Congress spread the virus of vote bank (politics) in the country. He wanted every poor person to live with dignity, with heads held high, to dream and fulfil them. But the Congress made the SCs, STs and OBCs second-class citizens," he said.

After flagging off the flight and laying the foundation stone of the new terminal building, Modi said the Centre is emphasising connectivity on the one hand and ensuring social justice and welfare of the poor on the other. "This was Ambedkar's dream," he said.

The new terminal building of the airport will be built at a cost of Rs 410 crore. The project will be completed in two years.

The scheduled flights from Hisar to Ayodhya twice a week, and three flights in a week to Jammu, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Chandigarh are expected to mark a significant leap in Haryana's aviation connectivity.

Modi said flights from Hisar to other cities would begin soon. —with PTI