Mumbai: Shiv Sena on Thursday sought an explanation from its Lok Sabha MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who allegedly hit Air India staffer Sukumar Raman at Delhi’s IGI Airport with a slipper, and remained defiant over the incident.
“The party has sought an explanation from Gaikwad over the incident. The Sena does not condone violence of any kind,” said Harshal Pradhan, media adviser to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.
“We have also sought a version of the incident from the Air India staffer. The Sena has a workers’ union in Air India,” he said.
Earlier, Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said, “Shiv Sena does not subscribe to such reaction by any of our party members. Gaikwad is known as Ravi sir and is very popular in his constituency. He has worked a lot towards solving the water problems of his region.” “We really should know what made him lose his temper. He is not a person who would suddenly jump into such a thing,” she added.
Air India’s no-fly list for unruly passengers
Air India is planning to prepare a no-fly list for unruly passengers, following the Gaikwad incident at Delhi airport.
“Air India is examining creation of no-fly list of unruly passenger on the lines of other carriers,” a senior airline official said.
Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who was flying on an Air India flight from Pune to Delhi, hit airline’s duty manager Sukumar Raman with his slipper several times when the latter urged him to deplane after the lawmaker refused to do so once the plane landed at Delhi airport.
“The MP turned violent, broke the duty manager’s spectacles, tore his shirt and hit him with slippers several times,” people aware of the development said.
Gaikwad, carrying a business class ticket, insisted on taking the airline’s early morning flight AI-852 from Pune to Delhi, which is an all-economy class. This led to an argument with the airline employees in Pune and an assault on the manager by the lawmaker when the aircraft landed in Delhi.
Political parties seek action against Ravindra Gaikwad
Leaders across party lines reacted sharply to the attack on the Air India staffer and demanded strict penal action against Shiv Sena’s Gaikwad, terming the incident as “sad and unfortunate”.
The Congress threatened to rake up the issue in Parliament. “This is unacceptable and some kind of action needs to be taken. It should be coming from his party as well as all the MPs when they speak in one voice in regards to privileges accorded to them. They should also be speaking in one voice to seek accountability when this privilege is misused,” Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said.
“It is not only the Shiv Sena’s responsibility, it is also the responsibility of the government which is in power. The Aviation minister should take action because it is a government employee who has been attacked by this MP,” she added.
BJP MP Kirit Somaiya maintained that legislators need to behave in a more mature manner. “We the MPs are more responsible persons and we have to behave in more mature manner. Anybody, particularly MPs like me, has to take the responsibility and not beat anybody whether Air India crew or common man. If my colleague MP has done some error, I feel I can apologise on behalf of MPs who are sitting here in Delhi,” he said.
