Good evening, I am Ravish Kumar. Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar, has died after a plane crash near Baramati. His plane had taken off from Mumbai for Baramati but crashed while landing. There were five people on board this plane, including the pilots. The plane caught fire and none of those on board survived. Captain Sumit Kapoor was flying the plane, and with him was Captain Shambhavi Pathak. With Ajit Pawar were his security personnel, Vidit Jadhav and Pinky Mali. All of them have died. An investigation into the causes of the accident will certainly happen, but according to the information coming in so far, it was a crash landing. That is, the pilot likely realized some technical malfunction had occurred, necessitating an immediate landing, and the accident happened during that process.

The manager of Baramati Airport has stated in the media that the aircraft went off the runway while attempting to land and crashed. This is being reported in the media. Information has also been released by the PIB. According to the PIB, the crew was informed that visibility was up to 3 km. But the pilot said they couldn’t see. The aircraft took a lap. After that, the plane was asked again: “Where are you? Tell us, can you see the runway or not?” The pilot replied, “Not visible. We will call you when the runway is visible.” A few seconds later, the plane reported the runway was visible. Permission to land was given, but no response to that clearance came from the plane. The pilot did not make a Mayday call, which is done in an emergency. One minute later, air traffic control saw flames. The Aircraft Investigation Bureau is now investigating this.

It is also being said that Baramati Airport was being managed by a private party. It was recently handed over to the Maharashtra Airport Development Company. Ajit Pawar was not traveling on a government aircraft. He was traveling on a private company’s aircraft. In charter flights, the name of the aircraft was Learjet 45. The use of such aircraft as charter planes is common. It was an aircraft from Bombardier Aerospace. It is a small aircraft and flies fast. It can land easily even at airports like Baramati, so it is used quite a lot.

The plane Ajit Pawar was on was arranged by a company called VSR Aviation. This 15-year-old company has 60 pilots and 18 aircraft, one of which crashed this morning at eight. In 2023, another Learjet aircraft of this same company crashed at Mumbai Airport due to heavy rain. Two and a half years have passed. To this day, in that case, the Aircraft Investigation Bureau has not published its final investigation report. This is the state of aircraft accident investigations in this country. In that incident, everyone survived.

There are muted whispers about the company that operated the plane Ajit Pawar was on, which we cannot confirm. But in India, what big issue is this not true for? If you go close to the system, you’ll hear all this: so-and-so is this, so-and-so is that, he has influence there. So, you will never get answers to the questions being raised. Therefore, I have no interest in these speculations right now. The plane was flying. Professionally trained pilots were flying it, and it crashed. Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was on board. For all of us, losing a public leader like this is an immense, immeasurable loss.

Personally, for me, he was a very strong and big-hearted friend, and we both saw a period of considerable struggle together. And now, when he was contributing firmly to Maharashtra’s development and was set to play a very long innings, his departure at such a time… I believe we have no words for this. The grief that has befallen his family and his large family, the Nationalist Congress Party, its officials and workers, is very hard to bear.

The information about the company is that this company, based in Vasant Kunj, Delhi, has directors Vijay Sumar Singh and Rohit Singh. Rohit is Vijay Kumar’s son, and both are pilots by training. Their aircraft fly from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bhopal. Under VSR Aviation come VSR Ventures and VSR Aero Engineering. When this same Learjet 45 XR aircraft crashed in 2023, a knowledgeable statement appeared in the Times of India saying that probably every major leader from Maharashtra and Gujarat has traveled in this aircraft. From Devendra Fadnavis to Eknath Shinde, all have traveled in it. About the current aircraft, it is also being reported that it is quite popular among leaders. In the 2023 accident, the aircraft broke into two pieces. So why was the same type of aircraft being used again? Was that aircraft completely safe?

Upon hearing the news of Ajit Pawar’s death, a crowd flooded the hospital in Baramati. Ajit Pawar has considerable influence here. He has also done a lot of work in Baramati. Since 1991, Ajit Pawar has been winning elections from Baramati. He has won for the eighth time. No one could defeat him on this seat. Clearly, Ajit Pawar would have a special meaning for Baramati.

In Maharashtra’s politics, Ajit Pawar was certainly an influential leader. After the announcement of the district council elections, news was circulating that he was about to announce election preparations from Baramati. In Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar has been Deputy Chief Minister for the longest time, holding the post a total of six times. Ajit Pawar himself used to joke about it, saying his son asks him how long he will remain Deputy Chief Minister. In recent elections, his party’s performance was not very good. Pawar also gave a statement that those who used to level corruption charges against him are now in the government with him.

During the local body elections in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar’s NCP and the BJP contested separately. Ajit Pawar leveled corruption charges against the BJP. Pawar used the term “monstrous appetite” for the BJP. Just hours before the local body elections, a team from Pune Police reached the office of Ajit Pawar’s party’s campaigner. Meanwhile, to form the BJP’s government in 2019, Ajit Pawar reached Raj Bhavan early in the morning and took oath as Deputy Chief Minister with Devendra Fadnavis. People were surprised to see that Ajit Pawar, whom Fadnavis wanted to send to jail, was taking oath with him. Three days later, that government fell. Ajit Pawar returned to the NCP. After that, Uddhav Thackeray became Chief Minister. His government was also brought down. When in 2022, Eknath Shinde split from Shiv Sena. A year later, in July 2023, Ajit Pawar also split from the NCP and joined the BJP. He became Deputy Chief Minister. At that time, Eknath Shinde, who had split from Shiv Sena, was Chief Minister. Devendra Fadnavis was Deputy Chief Minister along with Ajit Pawar. In 2024, the assembly elections were held. The BJP alliance got a massive number of seats. After the elections, Eknath Shinde went from CM to Deputy CM. Devendra Fadnavis went from Deputy CM to CM. Ajit Pawar remained Deputy CM. In this same Maharashtra election, allegations of vote theft were made.

Ajit Pawar has now received clean chits in several cases. In April 2024, his wife Sunetra Pawar also got a clean chit in the Rs 25,000 crore cooperative scam. The Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing closed the case. In December 2024, the Income Tax Department closed the case against Ajit Pawar regarding benami properties. In that case, the IT Department had attached properties worth Rs 1000 crore. In the local body elections, that same Ajit Pawar started leveling corruption charges against the BJP.

This accident is also being viewed through the lens of politics. But Ajit Pawar is viewed through two lenses. One is by those who know Maharashtra’s politics, who see him in the context of Maharashtra. The second lens is the one the BJP has created to view Ajit Pawar, through which he is seen outside Maharashtra.

I am not an aviation expert. Nor is there aviation journalism in India that can assure you with its knowledge. In India, you know there is no such thing as aviation journalism. Mainstream journalism has turned into ‘godi media’. You might remember last year in June, when Air India’s AI 171 flight from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick crashed, Indian media stopped reporting on it quickly. While many important pieces of information or questions were being raised for days by aviation experts sitting abroad, and through them, those questions were reaching you. Such a big accident happened, but the investigation report is still unknown to date. You don’t know exactly how the Ahmedabad passenger plane crashed. In India, we don’t even know the condition of the families of those killed in that accident. But three or four days ago, suddenly news came from America that a civil group related to aircraft safety filed a report in their Senate there, stating that this aircraft had a past history of technical glitches.

West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded an investigation into the Baramati crash. But when the investigation into Air India’s passenger aircraft is not even complete yet, what trust can be placed on the investigation of this aircraft? Naturally, in such a situation, there will be many speculations, many questions, rumors will fly. On TV, old pilots will be called who will tell you from this angle. Someone will tell you from that angle. “I am really shocked to see the news. There is no safety and security of the people of this country. Even the political leaders… I do not know what is the fate of the opposition political parties. But he was very much with the ruling party. But a few days ago, I came to know from social network that somebody from another party gave a statement that Ajit Pawar is willing to leave the BJP. And now what happened today? I need proper investigation under the supervision of Supreme Court. Only we have the trust on Supreme Court. No other agency. All the agencies are being totally purchased and really it’s a great loss for the country.”

Even during the Air India time, the same people came, but you still haven’t found out why that plane crashed. At that time, it was said Boeing aircraft are considered safe, and this was the first Boeing Dreamliner that crashed. A Dreamliner had never crashed before. Now, readers and viewers might not even remember what was said at that time? What has come out till now? You know nothing even after 7 months. On 8th December 2021, CDS General Bipin Rawat’s helicopter crashed. After 3 years, the report came that it crashed due to human error. It took 3 years.

Between 2017 and 2022, out of 34 aircraft accidents, in 19, human error is blamed. In General Bipin Rawat’s accident, a total of 11 people died, including his wife. Every other day you must see in the news that an army aircraft or training aircraft crashed, or a helicopter carrying tourists crashed. Neither is there proper reporting about the causes of these, nor does the investigation aspect come out properly. Whether it’s an aircraft or helicopter accident, while sensationalism spreads, all the information related to the aircraft behind that sensationalism disappears. All information revolves only around when the aircraft took off. What is told by the DGCA, in fact, contains nothing. There is only basic information. What was the aircraft’s registration? What is the name of the accident site? What is the number of people on board? There are statements from some eyewitnesses.

In the context of India, it is also necessary to talk about the pilot’s working conditions. Shukla Patel has done an analysis regarding the helicopter accident in Kedarnath. Just a few days after the Ahmedabad plane crash, on 15th June 2025, a helicopter crashed in Kedarnath. Seven people died. At that time, in the months of May and June, five aircraft accidents happened on the Char Dham Yatra route. In 2019, a report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau came. According to it, in Kedarnath’s helicopter shuttle service, there is an attempt to transport the maximum number of people in the minimum time. Because of this, pressure falls on everyone. Even a small mistake can disrupt the entire service. When helicopters land one after another, there is haste. Many times, helicopters don’t even have enough fuel to wait for another aircraft to leave. In one incident, there was such a crowd on the helipad that a passenger was injured by the tail rotor of a helicopter and died. All this was published in that report.

This is the condition in which the Char Dham Yatra is happening. In June, when the helicopter crashed, Uttarakhand’s Tourism Department said that due to bad weather, Aryan Aviation’s helicopter hit a tree. But when the FIR was filed, the police charged the company with gross negligence and culpable homicide. It was said that SOPs, i.e., Standard Operating Procedures, were not followed in this matter. What progress has happened in this case till now? Where is the case? Was the company’s safety audit done or not? Now there is no information.

In October 2022 also, an aircraft accident happened in Kedarnath, in which six people died. Apart from these, several other accidents have happened where passengers survived safely. But the question arises: why is there so much pressure on the shuttle service that such accidents keep happening? We don’t know exactly how these aircraft companies work? How do they maintain their aircraft? If in this country, everything is to be decided by which party someone belongs to, how influential they are, which leader’s close they are, then who will investigate and who will take action after investigation? Therefore, the talk of investigation often seems utterly pointless.

In December, when the IndiGo crisis happened, at its center was also the issue of the pilot’s rest and safety. For how many years has the fight been going on about what should be the correct working hours for a pilot? Till today, that hasn’t been decided properly. Whenever an accident happens, talk of human error is brought up. Blame is put on the pilot. What is the pilot’s mistake? Its picture is not properly placed among us. What is its pattern? You are never told about this in a concrete manner. While in this country, hundreds of aircraft fly every day.

India’s aviation sector has crumbled. In between, we are dazzled through the beauty and grandeur of Mumbai and Bangalore airports. As soon as an airport is built, ministers and BJP MPs start making reels from there. The public also starts making reels. Like Patna’s airport became an airport. But the runway, where hearts pound when aircraft land, its concern is taken up later. Patna’s runway is short. First, it had to be lengthened. But to attract the public, the airport was made like a mall because all this work gets done in very little time, and the public also gets dazzled seeing the tile floors and elevators as if they have never seen such things before and have landed on the moon. While if you carefully look at reports published in newspapers here and there, the condition of airports in India doesn’t seem good. Bhaskar, Telegraph, India Today have done several reports on this. You can read them.

Under the central government’s UDAN scheme, 11 airports were closed within a year. Seven of these are in Uttar Pradesh, which closed after inauguration. Six of these were inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi himself, also before elections. Airports in Aligarh, Moradabad, Chitrakoot, Shravasti, Bhawanagar, Pakyong have been closed. An international airport was opened in Kushinagar, but no flight has gone abroad from here. Bhaskar’s Rajesh Sahu reported that initially flights from Chitrakoot to Lucknow started. Flights used to operate four days a week, but gradually reduced. Within 4 months, flights from the airport stopped completely. For almost the last year, no passenger aircraft has been able to fly from here. So this is the condition of the aviation sector, of aircraft, of the companies that operate aircraft, and of your safety. Every accident should alert us. But no one knows what we learned from the last accident, if we learned anything at all.

Good evening, I am Ravish Kumar.