Air India staffer assaulted by Shiv Sena’s Gaikwad says MPs should behave

Gaikwad has remained defiant and called for Sukumar to apologise, maintaining he was right to lose his cool. A clutch of Indian airlines put the politician on a no-fly list on Friday.

An elderly Air India staffer said on Friday that he wasn’t scared of Shiv Sena parliamentarian Ravindra Gaikwad who assaulted the government employee after being denied business class seats.

R Sukumar, who was assaulted by a Shiv Sena parliamentarian, speaks to news agency ANI. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Speaking to news agency ANI, 60-year-old R Sukumar said he had requested Gaikwad to deboard the Pune-Delhi flight on Thursday morning as the cleaning staff had to do their work.

Instead, the MP from Maharashtra’s Osmanabad hit Sukumar with slippers 25 times in a burst of fury that was caught on video and played on national television.

“They are public servants, elected by public they need to behave in a decent manner,” Sukumar told ANI.

Gaikwad has remained defiant and called for Sukumar to apologise, maintaining he was right to lose his cool. A clutch of Indian airlines put the politician on a no-fly list on Friday.

But Sukumar appeared unfazed. “I am not scared at all, have been doing public dealing. Many people get irritated on such issues,” he told ANI.