oppn parties Gaikwadgiri is the 'Official' Term for Neta Misbehaviour

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Gaikwadgiri is the 'Official' Term for Neta Misbehaviour

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2017-04-08 22:40:27

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
First, a MP of a militant Hindutva political outfit now leaning towards a regionalist niche does an unpardonable thing in public by abusing and manhandling an airline staffer on flight. The airlines (and all other airlines) ban him from flying. Then fellow MPs, instead of taking him to task, keep mum as his party leaders defend him in parliament. Finally, a government without backbone and dependant on that party’s support in Maharashtra, allows him to go unpunished and forces the airlines to revoke the flying ban.

Instead of being repentant, the MP, his party leaders and the Shiv Sainiks are treating this as a victory. They have even given a name to the repulsive act of Ravindra Gaikwad. Abusing and manhandling public employees is now officially called Gaikwadgiri in Shiv Sena parlance. Worse, they have put up huge hoardings declaring this. Instead of being shamed, Gaikwad is being treated as a hero. Where does that leave the airline employees, who will now be on edge every time Gaikwad is on board? Or other employees in places Gaikwad visits? And what does it say about our society and moral values?

Employees of Air India had already said that they would not feel comfortable flying Gaikwad. Obviously, anyone would be after what the MP did. The worst thing is that he apologized only after showing a lot of defiance and on being forced to do so. But the government chose to ignore their pleas. At the very least, the government should have allowed Air India to lodge a complaint under the relevant criminal act for the MP’s act of not deplaning when being asked to and assaulting a public servant on duty. That would have assured the employees as well as the general public that there would be a line which MPs with inflated egos and a false sense of self-importance would not be allowed to cross. Deplorable VIP culture and political blackmail will get a fillip (already TMC MP Dola Sen delayed a flight for 40 minutes as seating arrangements were not to her liking) by this act of letting Gaikwad get away with Gaikwadgiri.