top of page

By:

Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Exit that shocked the nation

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, four others killed in plane crash; Probe begins into the reasons for the crash Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Pune district on Wednesday. Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections. The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a...

Exit that shocked the nation

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, four others killed in plane crash; Probe begins into the reasons for the crash Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Pune district on Wednesday. Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections. The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali. The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar's death. The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance it did not give any read-back' to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway. In aviation parlance, a go-around is a standard procedure where a pilot discontinues a landing attempt and initiates a climb to fly another approach. It is used when a landing cannot be completed safely due to factors like poor weather, an unstable approach, or traffic on the runway. It is a proactive safety measure rather than an emergency. In aviation, a readback is a crucial safety procedure where a pilot repeats back the essential parts of a message or instruction received from Air Traffic Control (ATC). It acts as a "closed-loop" communication system, ensuring that the controller's instructions were heard and understood correctly by the flight crew. The aircraft was trying to land amid poor visibility, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu told reporters in Pune. The statement by his ministry recounted the final minutes of the ill-fated Learjet 45 belonging to VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd that crashed, leading to the death of all five persons on board, including Pawar. Fatal Flight The ill-fated aircraft was a Bombardier Learjet 45, a twin-engine business jet commonly used for corporate and charter travel. Designed to carry between six and nine passengers, the Learjet 45 has a range of approximately 2,000 nautical miles and is powered by twin turbofan engines. The aircraft involved in the crash belonged to a charter operator and was being used for a non-scheduled private flight.According to preliminary information from aviation authorities and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) sources, the aircraft encountered severe weather conditions while approaching Baramati. Dense fog enveloped the Pune–Baramati region at the time, drastically reducing visibility and complicating the landing procedure. Probe Begins A team from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has reached the Baramati crash site to launch a forensic probe into the VSR Venture's Learjet 45 aircraft accident. "The investigation team has reached the (crash) site. They are on the work," the AAIB official told PTI. The official, however, declined to share further details. Earlier in the day, AAIB, which has the mandate to investigate all accidents and serious incidents/incidents involving aircraft with a gross weight of 2,250 kg or turbojet aircraft, was handed the probe into the crash. The aircraft, bearing registration VT-SSK, was being operated by the Delhi-based non-scheduled operator VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd. The crew was advised to descend in visual meteorological conditions at the pilot's discretion, the Civil Aviation Ministry said in its statement. At that time, the winds were calm, and visibility was around 3,000 metres, it said. Baramati airfield does not have an instrumental landing system - a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to an aircraft, allowing it to approach a runway at night, during bad weather and poor visibility. Ajit Pawar's last rites will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at Vidya Pratishthan ground at 11 am. The Maharashtra government on Wednesday declared three days of state mourning across state till January 30 as a mark of respect to Ajit Pawar. The national flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings where it is flown regularly. There will be no official entertainment during the mourning period. “Ajit's death was a big shock for Maharashtra, which has lost a hardworking and efficient leader. This loss is irreparable. Not all things are in our hands. A stand was floated from Kolkata that there is some politics involved in this incident. But there is nothing like this. There is no politics in it. It was an accident. I request not to bring politics into it.” Sharad Pawar, President, NCP (SP)

Grounded Ambition

Ajit Pawar’s life in politics was a study in restless energy and permanent incompleteness. His tragic death in a private plane crash has stupefied Maharashtra, bringing an abrupt end to a career defined by constant movement and unfinished ambition.


A record six-time Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar died as he lived: in motion, rushing to Baramati to address a local rally and tethered to the routines of grassroots politics even after four decades in public life. That the 66-year-old never realised his long-cherished ambition of becoming Chief Minister lends his death a particularly cruel symmetry. In Indian politics, few figures have come so close to the summit only to remain forever just below it.


Known affectionately as ‘Dada,’ Pawar was no ornamental satrap. Punctual to a fault, brusque in manner and famously tireless, he embodied the administrator-politician hybrid that Maharashtra once specialised in producing. From sugar cooperatives to the state’s finances, Pawar was intimately cognizant with the machinery of power. Files moved quickly when they reached his desk while decisions once taken were enforced with minimal fuss by him. In an era of performative governance, Ajit retained an old-fashioned belief in execution.


Yet his strengths were inseparable from his controversies. As someone who matured under the shadow and emulated his stalwart uncle, Sharad Pawar, Ajit rose through the cooperative movement that has long blurred the boundary between public service and patronage in western Maharashtra. Allegations of financial scandals regarding irrigation projects had forced his resignation in 2012 and scarred his reputation. While he built an intensely loyal faction within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), his mercurial persona deepened family and organisational fault lines.


Those fissures ultimately defined his career. Long seen as the natural heir to his uncle Sharad Pawar, Ajit chafed under dynastic ambiguity. The entry of Supriya Sule and later Rohit Pawar into electoral politics sharpened his sense of political confinement. His repeated rebellions - most dramatically the 80-hour government with the BJP in 2019, and the definitive split with the NCP in 2023 - were desperate bids for autonomy. By securing the party name and symbol and delivering a robust tally in the 2024 Assembly elections, Pawar finally emerged from his uncle’s shadow.


His death now leaves the NCP faction he led politically orphaned. Built around his authority, the party faces an uncertain future within the BJP-led Mahayuti. Without Pawar’s negotiating skills and electoral heft, rivals will test its cohesion and allies its utility.


His demise also places him in a grimly familiar list of Indian public figures undone by private aviation failures like Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Madhavrao Scindia and General Bipin Rawat.


India’s political class relies heavily on chartered aircraft and helicopters, often operating under looser scrutiny than commercial aviation. Maintenance regimes, pilot fatigue and weather assessment at smaller airstrips remain unevenly regulated. Either way, Ajit Pawar’s death leaves behind a vacuum that Maharashtra’s and Indian politics will feel for some time.

Comments

bottom of page