After organising Aero India—Asia's largest military aviation exhibition—in Bengaluru for the last 22 years, the ministry of defence is now mulling shifting the event to another venue. Out of several names that have been floating in the corridors of South Block is Lucknow, which is considered to be the first choice of the ministry, led by Nirmala Sitharaman.
Last week, a joint team of officials from the ministry of defence and Indian Air Force had visited the Bakshi Ka Talab airbase in Lucknow. Bakshi Ka Talab, situated on the outskirts of Lucknow, falls under the Central Air Command.
Sources have told THE WEEK that the IAF had some reservations over organising the mega event at Bakshi Ka Talab due to multiple reasons. First, at the moment, the infrastructure required to organise an air show like Aero India is not developed at Bakshi Ka Talab and this will take at least 15-18 months to develop. Secondly, the airbase is small and there is no radar facility there. Thirdly, the airstrip is currently being resurfaced and the length of the runway is too 'short' to operate big transport aircraft.
Moreover, the road connecting Lucknow to Bakshi Ka Talab is not in good shape. But, eventually, the Indian Air Force has to agree to the government's wishes on Aero India.
"No final decision has been taken in this regard [venue for Aero India]. Several states have approached the ministry to organise the air show at their venue. The issue is under consideration at the moment," said a senior defence ministry official.
During the inauguration of the first defence industrial corridor in Aligarh on Saturday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had publicly asked Sitharaman to shift Aero India to Lucknow. Eyeing the 2019 general elections, the Narendra Modi government is also considering Uttar Pradesh as its first choice to organise the mega event. However, the IAF is believed to have suggested Agra and Hindon airbase in the national capital region as venues for Aero India, if the government was keen on organising it in Uttar Pradesh.
Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had written to Modi and Sitharaman, insisting that Bengaluru would be the “best choice” for the biennial event. "Bengaluru, being the hub for defence and aviation majors of the country, is certainly the most suitable place to conduct the show," Kumaraswamy reportedly wrote in his letter.
The voice of dissent on the Aero India issue is also emanating from within the BJP, as Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda requested Sitharaman to drop the move to shift the event from Karnataka, his home state.
And in an attempt to dispel the notion of friction within the government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar tweeted, "There is no decision on shifting #AeroIndia 2019 venue out of Bengaluru to Lucknow, as clarified by Defence Min officials. I have spoken to @nsitharaman ji, who has confirmed the same. There were similar rumours last time too, which were proved to be unfounded."
Earlier, the defence ministry had faced criticism over shifting DefExpo, touted as the biggest international land, naval and internal homeland security systems exhibition in Asia. DefExpo, a biennial event like Aero India, used to happen in the national capital. But, then defence minister Manohar Parrikar, first took the event to his home state Goa in 2016 and then, Sitharaman, his 'full-time' successor, moved it to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, her home state.