Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: June 24, 2022 at 18:19 IST
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking the court direction for central government to change the call sign VT, which stands for “Victorian Territory and Viceroy Territory,” that is displayed on Indian aircraft.
The argument was that VT, a sign of slavery even after 75 years of independence, was still present.
BJP leader and petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay stated that Britain had assigned India the prefix “VT” prior to the partition in 1929.
“For all the colonies beginning with V, the British set a code. Later, though, countries including Sri Lanka, China, Pakistan, and Nepal changed their codes. While in India, the prefix is still present 93 years later, offending the citizens’ right to dignity “The plea said.
The use of the VT symbol indicates that we are still a Victorian Territory and Viceroy Territory, which is not true, but even after 75 years of independence, the government refuses to remove it or even make an effort.
The petitioner submits that the majority of the countries that were subject to colonial servitude have discarded their colonial signs and launched nationalist codes.
On the petition, BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay adds that even our Prime Minister flies in an Air India One B747-437 with the call sign VT-EVB to meet with world leaders in other countries.
Additionally, the plea stated that every aircraft registered in India must have the prefix “VT,” which serves as its nationality code. The Code is generally visible above the windows and just in front of the rear exit door. The prefix is shared by all domestic airlines, and it is followed by unique alphabets that identify the aircraft and who it belongs to.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are the organisations in charge of assigning the call sign, according to the petition copy. Futile attempts were made in the past to change the call sign for our country’s aircraft, but all in vain since they responded by saying that India could not get BA (Bharat) and IN (India) as China and Italy had already taken ‘B’ and ‘I’, respectively.
The petition says that if these other nations can reject the sign of slavery then India can too.