IndiGo fiasco sparks political sparring

AMID widespread disruptions in IndiGo’s flight operations, political criticism intensified on Saturday, with the Congress calling the turmoil a “government-made disaster” born of faulty policies, negligence and favouritism, even as CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a Joint Parliamentary Committee or judicial inquiry into what he described as an unprecedented crisis in the civil aviation sector and a sharp spike in airfares.

- PREETHA NAIR & PARVEZ SULTAN

The Congress claimed that the ongoing IndiGo chaos was not an accident but the direct outcome of the BJP government’s “relentless push to manufacture a duopoly in the sector”. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress MP Sasikanth Senthil said IndiGo’s cancellation of flights has brought the nation’s air travel to its knees. “The BJP government’s reckless handling of aviation safety exposes the full extent of its negligence. After releasing the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules on January 8, 2024, and after partially implementing them on July 1, 2025, the BJP government now shamelessly withdrew these critical safety protections in the middle of a sector-wide meltdown,” he said said.