Screen grab from Facebook video
Pointing fingers at two Muslim employees of Jet Airways, she suggested that she wasn't allowed to board the flight because of her religion.
By Curated by Nilanjana Gupta
Published: Mon 9 Jan 2017, 1:25 PM
Last updated: Mon 9 Jan 2017, 6:00 PM
It's not uncommon to see people vent their grievances of flights on social media.
Recently Indian actress of Big Boss fame, Payal Rohatgi, shared her experience with Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to Poovar, Kerala, in a Facebook Live video. Giving the situation a communal twist, she pointed fingers at two 'Muslim' employees of Jet Airways, suggesting that she wasn't allowed to board the flight because of her religion.
In her Facebook Live video, Rohatgi alleged that two employees 'Abdul' and 'Nadeem' refused to allow her as they didn't get any bus to take her to the aircraft. She said that she had arrived at the boarding gate, with her friend, Sangram, at 6:20 am for a flight scheduled to take off at 6:50 am.
She even took to Twitter and wrote: "Am I being subjected to this treatment because I am a Hindu, Nadeem/Abdul Muslim. We reached the gate 6.20 am."
But did she win the online community's support? Not quite! In fact she was royally slammed with hate messages. Some bashed her for being late at the boarding gate, while others gave her flak for making this incident a communal issue.
One person commented, "As a Muslim he has been doing his duties with utmost loyalty. It's you rich brats talking about secularism and corrupting the minds of common men. As an employee of an airline he has done his duty well. So hats off to this young man."
Another person wrote: "Madam for catching a 6:55 flight everyone in the world reach at 5:55. Are you travelling for the first time? They start boarding 30 minutes prior."
"Firstly you arrived at the "terminal" at 6:20 for a 6:50 flight... and what has secularism got to do with the airline staff who were only following airline protocol..may be you woke up in the wrong side of the bed," another person wrote.
After the hate messages, Rohatgi did a few more Facebook lives to clarify her stance. She wrote:
"Looking at all the love and hatred that is coming on my timeline on Twitter and the trend that is going on, I have to say that there have been so many times when I have caught flight 20-25 mins prior to coming to the gate and for you record I had reached the airport at 5:20, got my boarding and reached the gate at 6:20, and the flight was at 6:50. I was off loaded saying that there was no extra bus to take me from the gate to the gate because Jet Airways did not have a bus. Whether it was the bus issue or in reality it was a secular issue, I don't know. I just shared my point with you because all three of them at the gates were Muslims. I have nothing against them, in fact I have a neighbour in my Bombay house who is a Muslim. I don't know if they got up from the wrong side of the bed or was it just us.
It's not my fault, Sorry! Son next time whenever I am travelling with Jet, I am going to make sure that the timings are coordinated and obviously make a video when I reach the gate and probably when I am boarding the flight and after I have boarded the flight. That was the grievance that I shared with you, so don't twist it. It does not make me a non-secular Hindu."
The hate messages didn't stop at that. Here are some of the comments that poured in:
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