Yechury's death: EP Jayarajan ends IndiGo flight boycott, flies to Delhi

Kannur: CPM central committee member E P Jayarajan headed to New Delhi to pay last respects to CPM national general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who breathed his last on Wednesday.EP boarded the IndiGo flight from Kozhikode International Airport on Thursday night, ending his two-year-long boycott of the airline. IndiGo Airlines had barred the senior Communist leader from Kerala over his fight with Youth Congress activists onboard a flight in which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was travelling to Thiruvananthapuram from Kannur on June 13, 2022. Following the ban, an enraged Jayarajan publicly declared that he and his family would never travel on IndiGo flights again, even if he had to walk to Kannur. 

“ I only booked an available flight to reach Delhi immediately. I expected that Yechury would overcome his health issues. I was startled when TV channels aired the news. I have 40 40-year-long bond with the senior Communist leader. He took leadership to form a policy for the INDIA bloc by upholding Marxist values. His speech in Rajya Sabha played a major role in promoting Communist ideology in India,” EP Jayarajan told media at Delhi airport.

Jayarajan had shoved two Youth Congress activists who shouted slogans against the CM when the flight landed in Thiruvananthapuram on June 13. The two Youth Congress activists - Furseen Majeed and R K Naveen were arrested on June 14 and charged with attempt to murder. They were granted bail on June 23.

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 behaviour inside the flight, especially physical gestures, verbal harassment and drunken disturbance. Jayarajan had alleged that the Youth Congress activists 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 with a three-week ban, while the Youth Congress members were served only a two-week ban. An IndiGo official had told Onmanorama that the internal committee had found the Youth Congress members' violation slightly lesser in nature than that of Jayarajan.