Thiruvananthapuram: Right after he was served a three-week ban for pushing two Youth Congress members inside an IndiGo flight on June 13, an angry LDF convenor E P Jayarajan has declared that he would boycott IndiGo forever. “They have imposed a three-week ban on me but I don't intend to travel in an IndiGo flight ever again,” Jayarajan said as he was about to board a train to Kannur from Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. The CPM has also condemned the ban.
In fact, Jayarajan had booked an IndiGo flight to Kannur on Monday. The company had even issued him a boarding pass. But once the ban was imposed, Jayarajan got a refund from IndiGo. “IndiGo company has stooped to such a level where they issue orders without verifying facts and listening only to the words of criminals,” Jayarajan said.
Though Jayarajan said he would not seek an appeal, the CPM Secretariat has asked IndiGo to reconsider the ban. “The decision is condemnable and was taken without examining all the facts. Such a decision should be reconsidered,” the CPM Secretariat said in a statement issued on Friday.
An internal committee appointed by IndiGo had found the two Youth Congress members - Fardeen Majeed and Naveen Kumar - and LDF convener E P Jayarajan guilty of Level-I offence. Level-I offence relates to disruptive behavior inside the flight, especially physical gestures, verbal harassment and drunken disturbance. Jayarajan had alleged that the Youth Congress men were drunk. However, a top IndiGo source had ruled out inebriation.
Though Youth Congress members and Jayarajan were found guilty of the same level of offence, the penalty was slightly tougher on Jayarajan. He was slapped a three-week ban while the Youth Congress members were served only a two-week ban. An IndiGo official told Onmanorama that the internal committee had found the violation of the Youth Congress members of slightly lesser intensity than that of Jayarajan.
While the Youth Congress members uttered slogans, Jayarajan had pushed the two forcefully. The IndiGo official was unwilling to state why Jayarajan's behaviour was slotted as a level-I offence when his act involved pushing, a Level-2 offence under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s rules.
Jayarajan was so miffed that he said he had come to the conclusion that travelling in such a company was harmful for his security and well-being. “I had deputed my lawyer to give them a reply but they have not even intimated us before issuing the ban order. What they did was absolutely unjust and illegal,” Jayarajan said. “These people don't even know who I am,” he added.
Jayarajan felt so indignant that he said that knowing what happened to him people might gradually boycott IndiGo. He said he did not mind travelling by train. “Earlier, before the Kannur airport opened, I used to travel in trains. It is cost-effective, too. I would exhort others also to travel in trains,” Jayarajan said.
He said he would not give a single rupee from his pocket for a big corporate like IndiGo.
