NEW DELHI, March 24 (Xinhua) -- All Indian airlines Friday unanimously banned an Indian lawmaker from all their flights, a day after he hit an employee of national carrier Air India "25 times with his slipper" as he was denied a business class seat in a Delhi-bound flight.
An association of airlines has decided that Ravindra Gaikwad, the parliamentarian of the western state of Maharashtra's regional Hindu fundamentalist Shiv Sena party who assaulted a staff member of Air India, will not be allowed on flights "with immediate effect", a statement said.
The statement by the Federation of Indian Airlines also demanded that "strict action be taken against the Member of Parliament by law enforcement agencies. We believe that an assault on any one of our employees is an assault on all of us."
Meanwhile, Air India has also cancelled the lawmaker's return ticket fearing backlash from its employees, sources said.
Gaikwad, who Friday bragged about beating the 60-year-old Air India staffer, displayed no remorse even 24 hours after the incident. "I will return in the same flight this afternoon. Let the airline stop me from boarding its flight to Maharashtra's Pune city," he told the media.
The incident took place when Gaikwad was coming to Delhi from Pune on an Air India flight that apparently did not have a business class.
After thrashing the Air India employee, the Shiv Sena parliamentarian even bragged about in when local TV channels sought his reaction to the incident. "He was arrogant. I hit him 25 times with my sandal," he told the media.
The Air India flight crew has, however, alleged that he was "humiliated in front of the entire crew and his spectacles were broken".
As the chorus for action against the 57-year-old lawmaker grew stronger, Indian Aviation Minister had quipped, "No citizen should ever resort to any kind of physical assault let alone an Member of Parliament."
The BJP has strongly condemned the incident, despite Shiv Sena being its alliance partner in the Maharashtra government. "Elected representatives need to respect people who are doing their job, irrespective of whether the Air India man was rude," said Shaina NC, the BJP spokesperson.
