‘Hanuman Chalisa gave him confidence’: Dhirendra Shastri praises Captain Smit Machchhar’s courage

New Delhi: Spiritual leader Dhirendra Shastri, popularly known as Bageshwar Maharaj, on Sunday recalled the account of Captain Smit Machchhar’s fight to save passengers during the attack aboard a Dubai-Tel Aviv flydubai flight, saying the pilot’s faith in Lord Hanuman and recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa gave him the confidence to confront the crisis.

Speaking during a spiritual gathering, Shastri said he took immense pride in being a devotee of Lord Hanuman and reciting the Hanuman Chalisa. Referring to Captain Machchhar’s conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a video call, he highlighted the pilot’s account of how he continued chanting the prayer while battling the attacker inside the cockpit.

“Today, I take great pride in being a devotee of Lord Hanuman and in reciting the Hanuman Chalisa,” Shastri said.

Recalling the conversation between Captain Machchhar and the Prime Minister, Shastri said the aircraft was in a critical situation with more than 100 people on board and the pilots had begun to panic. According to his account, Captain Machchhar risked his own life and fought back to prevent the passengers from being killed.

Shastri said that when Prime Minister Modi asked the captain how he found the confidence to control the aircraft in such a difficult situation, Machchhar explained that he began reciting the Hanuman Chalisa as the aircraft started to plunge.

He said, “Hanuman Chalisa gave the captain the confidence to continue fighting and take control of the situation, adding that a powerful sense of self-confidence emerges in people who have faith in Lord Hanuman.”

Captain Machchhar, speaking to Prime Minister Modi on a video call on Friday, also gave a brief account of the attack and his fightback inside the cockpit of the Dubai-Tel Aviv flydubai flight. He said he kept chanting the Hanuman Chalisa while fighting off the attacker, who was the co-pilot.

The wounded pilot became emotional while briefing PM Modi about his rescue effort. He said he had almost collapsed while trying to stop the deadly attack, but continued because he knew he could not allow the passengers to die.

“I knew that if I did not wake up, nobody would survive. I pushed myself to open the cockpit door. I kept chanting the Hanuman Chalisa, as I always do when confronted with difficult circumstances,” Captain Machchhar told PM Modi, with tears flowing down his cheeks.

The Captain also told PM Modi that he takes his two-year-old son in his lap every day and chants Hanuman Chalisa to him.

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