Shiv Sena asks Govt to take over Jet Airways

 

MUMBAI, Apr 22: The Shiv Sena on Monday urged the

NDA Government to take over the temporarily grounded private

carrier Jet Airways and save its staff from losing their jobs.

It asked Prime Minister Modi to take a cue from the

foresight shown by former PMs Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira

Gandhi in nationalising insurance and airline companies.

Speaking about the impact of the temporary shut down

of the 25-year-old airline, the Sena, in an editorial in party

mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, said the curse of those rendered jobless

would be more powerful than that of a ‘sadhvi’.

It was apparently referring to remarks made by BJP

leader Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon

blast case, who recently claimed that senior police officer

Hemant Karkare died during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as

she “cursed” him for torturing her.

The cash-starved Jet Airways ceased all its operations

temporarily last week. The airline had sought a Rs 400 crore

emergency fund from its lenders to whom it already owes over

Rs 8,500 crore, but was refused as it was not ready to offer

more collaterals.

“Such incidents underscore the foresight of Pandit

Nehru and Indira Gandhi and their insistence on

nationalisation of insurance and airline companies in the

country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to show similar

foresight in the matter of Jet Airways,” the Sena said.

“Our demand to the government is that it take over Jet

Airways and save its staff from getting unemployed,” said the

Uddhav Thackeray-led party, which is an ally of the BJP at the

Centre and in Maharashtra.

The Sena said it has presented issues of the airline’s

staff before the government.

“The curse of the staff that is now unemployed is more

powerful than that of a ‘sadhvi’. The government could have

avoided such a situation,” it said.

It noted that investors had demanded exit of Jet

Airways’ chairman and founder Naresh Goyal and the State Bank

of India was also supposed to provide an assistance of Rs 400

crore to the airline.

However, despite Goyal’s exit from the airline, not

even Rs 500 was disbursed to its employees, it said.

The Sena wondered “if some corporate force was acting

behind the curtains to ensure the airline’s collapse”.

Breaking Indian businesses and laying red carpet for

foreign investors cannot be the nation’s policy, it opined.

Citing the example of the government providing a

financial assistance of Rs 29,000 crore to Air India since it

was a state-run company, the Sena said Jet Airways and (now

defunct) Kingfisher were also Indian companies.

It also expressed surprise over the Bombay High

Court’s refusal to intervene in the Jet Airways crisis.

The high court last Thursday said it cannot direct the

Government and the Reserve Bank of India to rescue a “sick

company”. (PTI)