Seeking Ways to Fly Again

Ever since Shiv Se MP Ravindra Gaikwad hit an Air India official 25 times with his slipper (according to his own boastful admission), he has been banned from flying on any airline. Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju has seen to this. Ravindra Gaikwad has been desperate to get his ‘no fly’ order revoked. But the Civil Aviation Minister refuses to budge despite Gaikwad having made the flying ban on him an issue in the Lok Sabha. Says Minister Gajapati Raju: “In machines where people fly, safety is important, and safety will not be compromised.” There was even an altercation between the Civil Aviation Minister and the Shiv Se Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises Ant Geete over the issue, but Gajapati Raju refused to budge. The offending MP seems to be quite unrepentant about what he did to the 60-year-old officer of Air India. He says he is willing to apologize to Parliament if the dignity of Parliament has been hurt but not to the officer he assaulted. Parliament must insist on his tendering an apology to the Air India official before his ‘no fly’ ban can be revoked since even the Lok Sabha Speaker has called his behaviour “ucceptable”. Gaikwad must realize that MPs do not constitute a different category of passengers.