MoS Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha explained the decision to revoke the ban on Ravindra Gaikwad
The government's recommendation to end a flying ban on Shiv Sena lawmaker Ravindra Gaikwad, who had assaulted an Air India manager last month and boasted about "hitting him 25 times with my slipper" has not gone down well with Twitter.
With the minister cleared to fly again, angry Twitterati collectively voiced their dissatisfaction with the decision.
Following the outrage on social media, Junior Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha today explained the decision to lift the flying restrictions on the Shiv Sena MP in a series of tweets.
There were many responses to the minister, but one stood out. A Twitter user, Prasanto Roy, asked the minister if people could "slap an MP and later give an apology", in an apparent dig at Mr Gaikwad's apology in parliament following which he was allowed to fly again.
"Question, Mr Sinha: could we each slap an MP 25 times with our shoes and later give an undertaking and apology? Asking for a friend," he tweeted.
The minister refrained from responding directly to the question and instead said an FIR has been registered against the erring lawmaker for the March 23 incident.
The lawmaker from Maharashtra's Osmanabad has refused to apologise to the Air India staff he assaulted. On March 23, he hit a 60-year-old duty manager of Air India with his slipper 25 times. Upset about being made to travel economy class despite holding an open business class ticket, the lawmaker refused to get off his seat. When the duty manager tried to talk to him, the two got into an argument and the lawmaker thrashed him and later boasted about it in interviews to TV channels.