New Delhi: As Indigo airlines continues to face its biggest-ever crisis that has paralysed commercial flights operations in India, its political donations have come back to haunt it, with opposition parties raising heated questions over the airline’s big purchase of electoral bonds in 2023, a year before the Lok Sabha elections. 

The Election Commission of India’s data revealed in 2024 that the Interglobe groups, which operates Indigo, purchased electoral bonds worth Rs. 36 crore, making it the biggest purchaser of the now-scrapped instrument of political donations in the transportation sector. 

Three InterGlobe entities – InterGlobe Aviation, InterGlobe Air Transport, and InterGlobe Real Estate Ventures – bought a total of 36 bonds of Rs. 1 crore each, 31 of which were purchased in May 2019, while the rest were bought in October 2023. In addition, Rahul Bhatia, InterGlobe’s promoter, purchased another set of 29 bonds worth Rs. 20 crore in his personal capacity in April 2021. Interestingly, all of Bhatia’s bonds were bought when the aviation sector was badly hit by COVID-19 pandemic. 

The only other airline to have bought electoral bonds was SpiceJet, which purchased 20 bonds worth Rs 65 lakhs between January and July of the year 2021. 

The Congress raised questions over why Indigo, which commands 63% of the aviation market followed distantly by Air India’s market share of 13.6%, was allowed to nearly monopolise the sector in the years following COVID-19 pandemic. The principal opposition party accused the Modi government of being gratuitously lenient towards Indigo after it purchased electoral bonds. 

The party said that the Indigo chaos wasn’t an accident but an outcome of the Modi government’s “relentless push to manufacture a duopoly in the sector”. 

“Duopoly prevails in many sectors of the Indian economy; the airline industry is one. Liberalisation and open economy are based on competition,” former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in a post on X on Saturday (December 6). He added, “People must ponder over HOW a vibrant and competitive airline industry in India was reduced to a two-player business, and WHY”.

Subsequently, the Congress upped its ante with another press briefing by Lok Sabha member Sasikanth Senthil who alleged that the government allowed Indigo to create a chaotic situation for passengers in spite of the fact that the airline didn’t implement the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) that was issued two years ago in January 2024. He said the FDTL was only partially implemented in July 2025. 

Senthil asked whether the union civil aviation minister K. Rammohan Naidu would take any accountability for the “unprecedented crisis” 

“Why did the DGCA [Directorate General of Civil Aviation] fail to ensure IndiGo complied with the FDTL rules released in January 2024 and partially implemented from July 2025 and fully on November 1? Did the government ever issue warnings or compliance notices to IndiGo, or was the airline protected from enforcement altogether?” he said. 

Congress links leniency meted out to Indigo with electoral bonds

Linking the leniency meted out to Indigo with electoral bonds, Senthil said, “Given these electoral bonds disclosures, that we saw massive purchases by InterGlobe group entities and its promoters… is the BJP’s (Bharatiya Janata Party) financial proximity to IndiGo the real reason behind this extraordinary lenience shown at the cost of passenger safety? We have been always saying – this electoral bond is a very, very, very dangerous thing. It will allow corporates to run the show and this is one example.”

The Congress MP from Tamil Nadu said that the crisis isn’t a natural breakdown but “a predictable fallout of the BJP government that has been hell-bent on crushing competition, rewarding favourites, and reshaping an entire national industry to suit a tiny circle of corporate allies”.

“The BJP government’s obsession with creating monopolies is visible across India’s infrastructure landscape. Why does only one corporate group repeatedly receive such large, strategically important assets? For example, the handover of multiple airports, including those once managed by others, to [Narendra] Modi ji’s dear friend Adani Group,” he said.

“There is total apathy by the government and the airline. Will Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu take responsibility for this unprecedented crisis or will he hide behind generic statements,” Senthil asked. He also demanded a White Paper on the Centre’s action to make IndiGo compliant with the new rules.

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