On Tuesday, the Kerala Motor Vehicle Department confiscated one bus of the IndiGo airline over charges of “tax evasion,” just hours after the airline placed the convenor of the ruling communist party LDF on a “no-fly” list due to an altercation with a leader of the Youth Congress. According to a state government department, the airline avoided paying road taxes totalling Rs 40,000. The bus was in the Feroke facility for maintenance even though it runs a service at the Karipur Airport.

IndiGo reportedly owes state department taxes for the last six months. Only until debts are paid in full will the bus be freed. The MVD, however, has asserted that the airline’s recent decision to place the ruling party, LDFs, on its flight schedule had nothing to do with the seizure of the bus over “tax evasion.”

A few weeks ago, on an IndiGo flight, members from the Kerala Youth Congress and Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader EP Jayarajan got into a fight. Because the bus was on airport property, the officials said they were unable to respond sooner. The official asserted that the bus was not impounded but rather kept in the workshop and would be released as soon as the outstanding debt and a Rs. 7500 penalty were paid.

On June 13, 2022, members of the Kerala Youth Congress boarded a commercial flight from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram, where they waved black flags at the chief minister to show their opposition to police abuse.

The chief minister spent three days in Kannur on business. The LDF leader Jayarajan and the security crew for the CM captured the Youth Congress workers and turned them over to the CISF.

Jayarajan stated that the act was worse than a “terrorist strike.” Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the state secretary of the CPI(M), also denounced the incident, alleging that members of the Youth Congress were preparing to attack the CM.

In the meantime, VD Satheesan, the leader of the Congress, called it a “symbolic protest against police repression.” One of the protesters and the leader of the Youth Congress Mattanur block, Farzeen Majid, insisted that their only goal was to register a protest. He claimed that the security crew for the CM and Jayarajan “brutally battered” the Youth Congress workers at the airport, causing significant injuries to them.

Anil Kumar, the bodyguard for the Chief Minister, filed a complaint with the Valiyathura police station, which led to the case being registered under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.

Several Congress offices, including the State Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, reportedly came under attack as a result of this incident, allegedly by CPI(M) members and the organization’s youth wing DYFI.

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