I think I should stay away from this debate: Modi on judicial crisis

News Network

January 22, 2018

New Delhi, Jan 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the government and political parties must stay out of the unprecedented judicial crisis, gave enough indications that the upcoming Budget may not be populist, and asserted that his poll slogan of “Congress-free India” was not aimed at eliminating the party politically.

In a wide-ranging 75-minute interview to the Times Now television channel, Mr. Modi said he was open to more changes in the GST to plug loopholes and make it a more efficient tax.

Asked about the crisis in the Supreme Court after the four senior-most judges came out to criticise allocation of sensitive cases by the Chief Justice, Mr. Modi said, “I think I should stay away from this debate. The government must also stay away. The political parties must also keep out of it.”

In his first public remarks on the crisis, he expressed confidence that the judiciary would sit together to find a solution to its problems. Mr. Modi said his slogan of ‘Congress-free India’ was about ridding the country of the “Congress culture”, which he termed casteist, dynastic, corrupt and involving total control over power, among other ills. Maintaining that the Congress had been the “main pillar” of politics in the country that spread its culture to all political parties, he said his call for “Congress mukt” or “Congress-free India” was “symbolic” and he wanted even the Congress to be free of the “Congress culture.”

He also attacked the party for its objection to the triple talaq Bill in the Rajya Sabha. Asked if his government will turn populist in the Budget, Mr. Modi said the issue falls within the ambit of the Finance Minister and he did not want to interfere in it. The common man, he said, expects honest governance. “He doesn’t demand sops and freebies. It is our myth.” Mr. Modi defended his economic policies, saying demonetisation was “a very big success story.”

He said the suggestion that the country’s foreign policy was based on Pakistan was wrong but stressed that the world was uniting against those sympathetic towards terrorists.

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Dar Pok saaala... Coward. Pol khul jayegi saale ki.

afraid of knowing the truth he does not want to debate anything

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IndiGo CEO says less than 1,000 cancellations on Dec 6; normalcy by Dec 15

News Network

December 5,2025

New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said.

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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