New Delhi: Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju made his controversial statement while addressing a Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and recounted an incident when his matchboxes and lighters were confiscated by airport security before he became a minister.

Mr Gajapathi Raju said that after becoming minister for civil aviation “people stopped frisking me” and “my matchbox also came along with me”.

The minister repeated the statements on camera again while interacting with reporters on the sidelines after the event. Matchboxes and lighters are among the items not allowed inside aircraft in India.

After the event, he again said on the sidelines, “Earlier, my lighters and matchboxes kept getting confiscated. But after I became civil aviation minister, I am not patted down (frisked). So it (matchboxes) goes (along with me) in my pocket.” When asked whether matchboxes should be allowed inside aircraft, Mr Raju said, “I don’t know. I carry a matchbox in my pocket. Even now, here also, I carry it. There is no secret.”

When asked whether he would now deposit the matchboxes from his pocket in future before boarding flights, Mr Raju said, “That is a good suggestion.”

On being asked a little earlier whether he carries matchboxes even while travelling in an aircraft, Mr Raju quipped, “You (media) are going to make an issue out of it,” but added, “I have yet to come across an incident worldwide where a matchbox became a threat.”