Rahul Gandhi Blames Centre’s ‘Monopoly Model’ for IndiGo Airport Chaos, Calls for Fair Competition

New Delhi, Dec 2025 : As flight cancellations and operational disruptions by IndiGo continued to cause widespread chaos across several Indian airports, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Centre, holding the Modi government responsible for what he described as the collapse of fair competition in the aviation sector. He alleged that the current crisis is a direct consequence of the government’s “monopoly-driven economic model.”

Taking to social media platform X, the Congress leader said that the suffering of ordinary passengers reflects the deeper cost of allowing monopolistic practices to flourish. “IndiGo fiasco is the cost of this government’s monopoly model. Once again, it’s ordinary Indians who pay the price — in delays, cancellations and helplessness. India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies,” he wrote.

Along with his post, Rahul Gandhi shared an article titled “A New Deal for Indian Business,” in which he elaborated on his views regarding growing concentration of corporate power. Reiterating his stand, he added, “Match-fixing monopoly groups vs fair-play businesses — the moment has come to choose freedom over fear.”

The Congress leader went on to draw a striking parallel between what he described as today’s corporate monopolisation and the colonial-era domination of the East India Company. He argued that India was historically subdued not merely through military might but through economic chokeholds and institutional control.

“India was silenced by the East India Company. It was silenced not by its business prowess, but by its chokehold. The company partnered with, bribed and threatened pliant rulers. It controlled our banking, bureaucratic and information networks,” he said. “We did not lose our freedom to another nation; we lost it to a monopolistic corporation that ran a coercive apparatus.”

Rahul Gandhi asserted that although the East India Company was dismantled over 150 years ago, the fear and concentration of power it represented have resurfaced in modern form. “A new breed of monopolists have taken its place. They have amassed colossal wealth, even as India has become far more unequal and unfair for everybody else,” he said.

He further alleged that national institutions are no longer answering to the people but to powerful corporate interests. “Our institutions no longer belong to our people; they do the bidding of monopolists. Lakhs of businesses have been decimated and India is unable to generate jobs for her youth,” he claimed. Describing the growing economic imbalance as an injury to the nation, he added that monopolisation of resources and power for the benefit of a few has deeply wounded the country.

Making a strong pitch for wide-ranging reforms in the corporate sector, including aviation, the Congress MP stressed that the government must function as a neutral regulator rather than a facilitator for select business groups. “The government cannot be allowed to support one business at the expense of all others, much less support benami equations in the business system,” he said.

He also cautioned against the alleged misuse of government agencies. “Government agencies are not weapons to be used to attack and intimidate businesses,” he stated, while also clarifying that he does not view large industrialists as villains. “They are not evil individuals, but the outcome of deficiencies in our societal and political environment. They too deserve space, and so do small businesses,” he said.

Concluding his remarks, Rahul Gandhi renewed his appeal for comprehensive economic reform. “I believe a new deal for progressive Indian business is an idea whose time has come,” he wrote in the article carried by a leading daily.