Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh lashes out at airline and its pilot for racist abuses at his physically challenged friend.
Harbhajan tweeted that we are not ‘Bloody Indians’, we are Proud Indians.
@narendramodi sir this pilot BERND HOESSLIN working @jetairways calld my fellow indian (U BLOODY INDIAN GET OUT OF FLIGHT) pl take action
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) April 26, 2017
Strict action must b taken &such things should not be allowed or tolerated in r country.. #proudtobeindian let's get together and sort this
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) April 26, 2017
Harbhajan had threatened to write to the Indian PM Narendra Modi, if the airline didn’t take action against the pilot. The Jet Airways pilot was derostered after the incident came to the forefront.
While many supported Harbhajan, there were a few who felt he was protesting only because the person involved was his friend.
@harbhajan_singh @narendramodi @jetairways who will take action against those who say to MUSLIMS, get hell out of india???? 😂😬
— kamran ali (@kamrana72532598) April 26, 2017
@harbhajan_singh @narendramodi @jetairways @narendramodi sir I was playing with my friend in the park, a ice cream seller came and shouted at my friend. Please take action
— Anukul Keny (@anukulkeny) April 26, 2017
A few years back, Harbhajan Singh was accused of passing a racist remark at Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds. Harbhajan had an exchange with Symonds in a Test match, during which he allegedly called Symonds a “monkey”. Harbhajan was handed a three-match ban, which was later overturned on appeal.
So what exactly was the issue?
Wheelchair-bound Punjabi music director Jatinder Shah and his and his producer friend Pooja Gujral slams expat captain for ‘abuse, jostling’. Shah and Gujral, both residents of Lokhandwala, who had been to Chandigarh to attend a film awards function.
“Jatinderji uses a custom-made battery-operated wheelchair because he suffered from polio and has been paralyzed from the waist down since he was two years old. His wheelchair had been checked in as usual but on our arrival in Mumbai, we were told by the airline staff that it had been put on the conveyor belt. We had to refuse since Jatinderji had fallen off these wheelchairs twice in the past.”
After a 20-minute wait when Shah’s wheelchair was brought into the aircraft and he bent over to instal the batteries, the captain walked out of the cockpit. He allegedly screamed at the two passengers for having a wheelchair on board and delaying the flight, and used racial slurs and even pushed Gujral.
Shah and Gujral filed a written complaint with the airline after deplaning but since they said there was no acknowledgment or apology, they lodged a complaint at Sahar police station two days later.
