Congress leader Pawan Khera de-boarded from IndiGo flight in Delhi

“The dictator got ED raids done before the session and now he has come down to this kind of act,” the Congress said in response

A delegation was en route to Raipur from Delhi.

Congress leader Pawan Khera was reportedly de-boarded from the IndiGo flight 6E204 en route to Raipur on February 23, said Congress’s social media in-charge Supriya Shrinate.

A delegation was headed from Delhi to Raipur, where the 85th plenary of the party is scheduled to commence on Friday. Supriya Shrinate, Randeep Singh Surjewala and K.C. Venugopal were the other Congress leaders accompanying him.

Mr. Khera said he was asked to de-board the plane for baggage reasons. “I don’t know why I have been de-planed. I was told that they need to check my baggage, I told them that I only have a handbag, but they still insisted that I leave the plane,” he said. “I have now been told that the DCP will meet me on tarmac.”

Assam police registers case

Meanwhile, a case has been registered at Haflong police station in Assam’s Dima Hasao district against Congress leader Pawan Khera, police said on Feb. 23.

Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan, IGP L&O and spokesperson of Assam police told ANI that, a team of Assam police left for Delhi to take remand of Pawan Khera in connection with the Haflong police station case.

“A case has been registered against Pawan Khera at Haflong police station in Dima Hasao district, our team is Delhi, and we have requested Delhi Police to arrest him. We will bring him to Assam after permission from the local court,” the Assam Police said.

Chaos at Delhi airport

Scenes of chaos unfolded on the tarmac at the New Delhi airport, where the members got down and raised slogans against the BJP government. In a video shared by Congress, the members can be heard saying, “BJP hai hai” and “Yeh tanashahi nahi chalegi” (this dictatorial attitude is unfair).

Mr. Khera during a presser recently took a jibe at the BJP government’s alleged support for Gautam Adani and the inaction over the Hindenburg report. While addressing a presser, the Congress spokesperson referred to Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi as “Narendra Gautamdas Modi”.

Taking to Twitter, Ms. Shrinate wrote, “We are all on the @IndiGo6E flight 6E 204 to Raipur and all of a sudden my colleague @Pawankhera has been asked to deplane. What sort of highhandedness is this? Is there any rule of law? On what grounds is this being done and under whose order?”

The Congress party also expressed chagrin at the “dictatorial” move.

“This is a dictatorial attitude. The dictator got ED raids done before the session and now he has come down to this kind of act,” the Congress tweeted.

The incident signalled a “murder” of democratic India, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted. “Freedom of Speech is slowly weakening in India, but Freedom AFTER Speech is fast becoming extinct. My colleague @Pawankhera was deplaned from a Raipur-bound flight. After ED raids, another attempt to derail Congress Plenary. Murder of Democratic India is the right acronym for Him,” he wrote.

(With inputs from Agencies)