'My father was on hijacked IC421 flight': Jaishankar's shocking revelation
In a stunning revelation, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar revealed that his father was onboard the Indian Airlines flight IC421, which was hijacked in 1984. "I was part of the team which was dealing with it. After 3-4 hours of the hijacking...I discovered my father was on the flight," he said during a recent address to the Indian diaspora in Geneva, Switzerland. The minister's revelation came amid ongoing controversy surrounding the Netflix series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack.
Minister's dual role during 1984 hijacking incident
"Fortunately, nobody got killed. It was interesting because..I was part of the team which was working on the hijacking. On the other hand, I was part of the family members who were pressing the government on the hijacking," the charismatic minister said. "So, often these are situations, and movie guys don't make the governments look good. The hero is supposed to look good. Then nobody would watch the movie, and you got to accept that," he commented.
Details of the 1984 Indian Airlines hijacking
On August 24, 1984, Indian Airlines Flight 421 was hijacked after taking off from Delhi Airport for Srinagar, with stops in Chandigarh and Jammu. Seven hijackers affiliated with the outlawed All India Sikh Students Federation stormed the cockpit as the flight landed in Chandigarh. The terrorists sought to secure the release of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale among others during this incident which lasted for 36 hours.
Jaishankar shares anecdote
Who was K Subrahmanyam
For the uninitiated, Jaishankar's father, Dr. K Subrahmanyam, was also a civil servant like his son. The former IAS officer was widely regarded as the doyen of India's strategic affairs community and the leading ideological champion of India's nuclear deterrent. He chaired the Kargil War Review Committee and the committee that drafted India's nuclear deterrence doctrine. He passed away in 2011.
Controversy surrounding Netflix's 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'
The Netflix series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' came under fire for allegedly altering the identity of terrorists involved in the 1999 hijacking. Following the backlash, Netflix agreed to update the disclaimer of IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack to include the real names of the hijackers. Critics have accused the series of "whitewashing" by using codenames for Muslim terrorists from Pakistan. The show features notable actors such as Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Dia Mirza, and Arvind Swamy.
