A viral incident from a Kerala airport has triggered a political war of words as IndiGo continued to cancel hundreds of flights for the third consecutive day. In a video circulating online, one of the stranded passengers was seen shouting at the airline counter staff, saying, “Sister, mereko pad chahiye”, after claiming that a sanitary pad was unavailable for his daughter. The man’s frustration came amid chaos at the help desk, where passengers were demanding updates on delayed and cancelled flights.
Responding sharply to the incident, the Kerala Congress criticised the passenger on X and argued that his anger was misdirected. The party posted that the young woman working at the counter had no control over cancellations and was simply trying to manage the situation with the limited information provided to her. The post stated that paying for a flight ticket “doesn’t mean you are personally funding her salary” and called out what it described as unfair targeting of frontline staff.
The Kerala Congress further said that if the passenger truly wanted accountability, he should raise his voice against those responsible for the crisis — the airline’s senior management, the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Union government. The party accused the Centre of creating a duopoly in the aviation sector by weakening other airlines. It argued that shouting at an employee who has “zero power” does not demonstrate bravery but “misplaced anger and theatrics.”
The disruption caused by IndiGo’s cancellations has entered its third day, with over 550 flights cancelled on Thursday and more than 450 on Friday so far, leaving thousands of travellers stranded across India. In the midst of the turmoil, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi said the aviation sector is facing “utter chaos” due to what he described as the government’s “monopoly model.” He argued that passengers are bearing the cost of delays, cancellations and helplessness, and called for fair competition in the airline industry to prevent such breakdowns in the future.
