It was a who-blinks-first contest of sorts at the Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery here on Friday.
The area outside the domestic terminal looked like a noisy temple compound and reverberated with Ayyappa hymns chanted by protesters, who had assembled there long before gender rights activist Trupti Desai and six other women, all aged below 50, arrived by a flight at 4.40 a.m.
Passengers coming out of the terminal looked shocked as they waded perilously through the protesters. Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan emerged out of the terminal and the protesters used it as a ruse to turn up the noise level.
The number of protesters kept increasing by the minute. A 120-member-strong police team was deployed in the area under J. Himendranath, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kochi City.
Behind the scenes, frenetic efforts were under way to find a solution to the impasse by the police, revenue, airport, and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials. An attempt to spirit Ms. Desai away through another exit was thwarted by protesters, who had sealed off all exits.
Prepaid and online cab operators turned down Ms. Desai’s trip, fearing backlash from protesters. This left the group of women trapped inside the terminal for many more hours.
Around 11.49 a.m., an uproar erupted as Ms. Desai emerged and waved at the protesters. It evoked a wild response from the protesters, who challenged her to come out. The leaders of the protesters had to raise their voice and castigate their cadre for biting the bait thrown at them by Ms. Desai. Soon, a green screen was put up behind the glass separation of the domestic terminal and Ms. Desai was not visible to those waiting outside. But she was everywhere on television channels, which kept telecasting her sound bytes over phone. She thundered her decision not to go back home to Maharashtra without visiting the Sabarimala shrine.
A three-hour ultimatum issued by BJP State vice president A.N. Radhakriahnan to the State government to arrest Ms. Desai had passed with hardly any consequences. In walked Ayyappa Dharma Sena leader Rahul Easwar, but was met with cold response from the organisers of the protest and he left shortly thereafter.
There was a core team of police officers in place to constantly liaison with Ms. Desai and the protesters to avoid any violent confrontation.
As the stand-off continued with none of the parties ready to back down despite several attempts, a meeting of revenue, police, airport and CISF officials ensued to find a solution.
With Ms. Desai unable to arrange transportation and accommodation facilities on her own, the police informed her that a return flight home was the sole solution available.
Ear-splitting whistling and chanting erupted around 5.44 pm when Ms. Desai became visible yet again in the baggage check-in area. Shortly thereafter came news of her return flight, sparking off wild celebrations among the protesters.
