Shivraj finds 'broken seat' on Air India flight, goes public with complaint

Union agriculture minister and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to social media on Saturday, 22 February, to criticise Air India after what he claimed was an uncomfortable flying experience. 

Chouhan was travelling from Bhopal to Delhi on flight AI436 when he was allegedly assigned a broken and sunken seat. The ministry of civil aviation acknowledged Chouhan’s 'uncomfortable' experience and Air India issued an apology, while X users had a field day with his post.

In the post in Hindi, Chouhan said he was allocated seat 8C, which he found to be damaged and uncomfortable. "When I asked the airline staff why such a seat was allocated, they admitted that management had been informed earlier and advised against selling tickets for it. Shockingly, there were several such defective seats on the flight," he wrote.

Intriguingly, he also wrote, "I had the impression that Air India's service would have improved once Tata took over its management, but it turned out to be my misconception. I don't care about my discomfort while sitting but it is unethical to charge the full amount from passengers and then make them sit on bad and uncomfortable seats. Isn't this cheating the passengers?"

Despite being offered alternative seating by fellow passengers, Chouhan said he chose to remain in his assigned seat to avoid inconveniencing others. The minister was on a packed schedule, including inaugurating the Kisan Mela in Delhi’s Pusa, attending a meeting of the Natural Farming Mission in Haryana’s Kurukshetra, and holding discussions with representatives of farmer organisations in Chandigarh.

Air India responded to the minister’s post with, “Dear Sir, we apologise for the inconvenience caused. Please be assured that we are looking into this matter carefully to prevent any such occurrences in the future. We would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you; kindly DM us a convenient time to connect.”

All well and good, but as several users pointed out, it took a personal experience for a Union minister to issue a public complaint, without a word on the plight of common travellers on both planes and trains, especially in light of the huge surge in passenger traffic owing to Maha Kumbh 2025.

User Roshan Rai wrote, "People are dying in stampedes on stations, not getting seats in trains, travelling like cattle, suffocating and you are crying about minor issues with airline seats?"

Another user Srinivas BV wrote, "The minister felt the pain of finding a broken seat on the plane! He did not feel the pain of his government not being able to provide space in trains to millions of devotees going to Kumbh, he did not feel the pain of hundreds of people dying due to the failure of his government. When it came to his own chair, he realised the looting by the airlines."

Still others put forth theories about whether the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister — known for his political acumen — was aiming at either the Tatas or civil aviation minister and fellow Madhya Pradesh BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. If the former, was it a hint that the Air India management should change hands yet again? If the latter, did it hint at trouble within the party in MP?