Kolkata:
Some of his Cabinet colleagues may have issues flying economy class, but Pranab Mukherjee clearly believes in leading by example. On Saturday, he flew economy class from Delhi to Kolkata. He had done it many times before, he said, and enjoyed the trip.
Fellow passengers gave his austerity drive the thumbs up and, already, other ministers are beginning to tow the line.
"Why all this fuss I do not know. Earlier, I used to travel by economy class. During full five years when I was minister in Narasimha Rao government I travelled by economy class. Therefore, it is nothing new to me. It was quite enjoyable," Pranab said.
Fellow flyers on the Spice Jet flight gave Mukherjee's gesture full marks.
"He was sitting just one row ahead of me. It was in 1F. I could feel he was quite cool, composed and very comfortable," said Colonel Gautam Kar, a passenger.
"It was a good experience. It felt good to see somebody of his stature was as normal as anybody else and its good for them to be travelling on economy class because I guess it saves money for the government," said Tina, another passenger.
Even as word of his austerity (do it yourself ethic) got around, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said "Me too", and Mamata Banerjee claimed her Ministry had beaten Mukherjee to it.
"I welcome the austerity drive Pranab da has started. I would like to say that we were the first department to implement the austerity drive. When I took up the Railway Ministry, we had reduced the number of foreign tours to half. Before anyone's instructions, we had already started practicing austerity," Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
Clearly, flying economy is now going to be good politics.