The nightmare faced by passengers through the mismanagement of flight schedules by an airline in India puts the searchlight on a sector gone intolerably wrong. Indigo is presumed to be an Indian airline, yet functions of foreign nationals for the benefit of foreign countries. Small wonder that the trade representative from the United States, who was recently in India, boasted that the country was becoming open territory for US goods. This is being done by the simple expedient of pricing select Indian goods at a very high level. In the other “Indian” airline, which is part of the duopoly that controls 93% of Indian civil aviation, the price of a ticket in economy class from Trivandrum to Delhi exceeds Rs 80,000. Or in US dollars, almost 10,000 dollars. Looking at fares, per kilometre travelled passengers in the same airline travelling to and from destinations in European and North American markets is much cheaper. In other words, passengers in India are being fleeced to subsidize the travel of foreign nationals in these markets. The East India Company never made a pretence of working for British colonial interests at the cost of the subjugated people in India. The same openness needs to be shown by companies such as in aviation that speak of Indian interests while in effect being controlled by foreign nationals for the benefit of foreign nationals at the cost of the domestic population.
Such a situation would bring a huge political cost to the National Democratic Alliance in Lok Sabha seats lost in the 2029 polls. These polls will be crucial towards ensuring that the basic changes made under Modi 3.0 to the national firmament will remain permanently in effect. Only a Modi 4.0 will be able to ensure this, which is why those opposed to the NDA led by PM Narendra Modi internationally will enlist the support of their domestic proxies to ensure that Project 150 (i.e. the restricting of the BJP Lok Sabha tally to 150 seats or less) succeeds in 2029 in a way that the previous Lok Sabha election objective of 220 seats or less for the BJP failed. The BJP secured 240 Lok Sabha seats and in the process, secured a third term as Prime Minister for Modi.
His style of functioning has earned the Prime Minister of India the enmity, covert as well as overt, of powerful actors on the world stage. Some conceal their enmity through flowery language, but as the old saying goes, beware of poison even when it is covered up in the sweetest way. In India, the poison of unaffordable prices was covered up in what may be called “sweets”, yet remained as lethal as if they were uncovered and therefore bitter to the taste. As a consequence, officials who ought to have known better ingested the sweet-covered poison liberally, and led to the overpricing of domestic passengers on the two supposedly Indian carriers, including on what was once the national airline in the way Air China is for China.
Those who seek a fourth term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi are anticipating that he will step in to rectify the situation. Long before the polls, the present writer had warned that the effort of the Anyone but Modi campaign was seeking a seat tally of 220 or less for the BJP. They came within range of success, but failed as the 240 seat tally of the BJP ensured a third term for PM Modi. Now the effort is to restrict the Lok Sabha tally to 150 seats for the BJP, which the anti-Modi forces believe will prevent a fourth term for PM Narendra Modi. Which is why remedial action across sectors needs to be taken by the Prime Minister now.
Compradors who serve foreign rather than domestic interests need to be replaced by those genuinely in favour of national interest. In the field of civil aviation, there are enough rules and laws to ensure that foreign nationals are kept out of control of the two airlines holding a monopoly. In several fields, as few as two or so companies enjoy a monopoly. As a consequence, several materials essential for building Viksit Bharat are being priced beyond the affordability of the average citizen.
There was a time when train passengers graduated to air travel, and now the reverse is taking place. Passengers in “Indian” carriers are being forced to go back to rail travel as airline prices for Indians have shot through the affordability roof. It is the political parties who are in power and who consequently have responsibility for unwise decisions that will pay the price at the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. The sooner the Prime Minister is able to rectify the duopoly situation the better for the other parties in the National Democratic Alliance. Bharat i.e. India must be free from the influence of foreign actors who cause havoc with the public cause, and the sooner this gets done, the better for all parties in the NDA. “Project 150” must fail in 2029 for the “national interest” to succeed.
