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Business Standard
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
YSR Reddy to Madhavrao Scindia: Indian leaders who died in air crashes
The Air India crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday claimed the lives of 241 people out of 242 on board, Air India said in a statement. Former Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani is also among those who lost their lives. Several prominent figures and political leaders of India have lost their lives in plane crashes. The list includes the father of the Indian nuclear programme, Homi J Bhabha, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's son Sanjay Gandhi, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, and more. Here's a list of all those who lost their lives in an airplane crash: Politicians of India who lost their lives in an airplane crash: YS Rajasekhara Reddy (2009) Then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR, died on 2 September 2009, when his Bell 430 chopper took off from Hyderabad for Chittoor district but crashed in the dense Nallamala forest due to bad weather. According to media reports, as many as 122 people died from shock or suicide after Reddy's death. Sanjay Gandhi (1980) Sanjay Gandhi, the son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who played a significant role during the Emergency (1975–77), was a pilot himself. He lost his life on 23 June 1980 at the age of 33 when he lost control of his aeroplane during an aerobatic manoeuvre. The death of Indira Gandhi's political heir changed the course of Indian politics. Madhavrao Scindia (2001) Madhavrao Scindia, son of Jiwaji Rao Scindia, the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Gwalior during the British Raj, was himself the Minister of Civil Aviation once and a leader of the Indian National Congress. On 30 September 2001, he was going to Kanpur for a political rally when his private aircraft crashed. He lost his life along with all eight people on board. GMC Balayogi (2002) Lok Sabha Speaker and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader GMC Balayogi died in a chopper crash on 3 March 2002, when a private helicopter carrying him from Bhimavaram in West Godavari district crashed into a pond near Kaikalur in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Cyprian Sangma (2004) Meghalaya's Rural Development Minister Cyprian Sangma and nine others, who were heading from Guwahati to Shillong on a Pawan Hans helicopter, died when the chopper crashed near Barapani lake, just 20 km from the state capital, on 22 September 2004. Om Prakash Jindal and Surender Singh (2005) Om Prakash Jindal, the chairman of the OP Jindal Group and Haryana Power Minister, lost his life in a helicopter crash in 2005 along with Agriculture Minister Surender Singh. The King Cobra helicopter was en route to Chandigarh from Delhi when it crashed in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur. Dorjee Khandu (2011) Then Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, along with four others, died on 30 April 2011 when the Pawan Hans helicopter carrying them from Tawang to Itanagar crashed in West Kameng district of the state. His body was recovered from Luguthang, near the China border. Other prominent figures and celebrities of India who lost their lives in an airplane crash: Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1966) Homi Jehangir Bhabha, India's pioneering nuclear physicist, died in a tragic crash aboard Air India Flight 101 on 24 January 1966. The plane crashed into Mont Blanc in the Swiss Alps due to a miscommunication with Geneva air traffic control. His death remains mired in conspiracy, with many theories suggesting different reasons for it. CDS General Bipin Rawat (2021) India's first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, died in a helicopter crash on 8 December 2021. Twelve people lost their lives in the crash along with Rawat and his wife Madhulika. The incident occurred near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu while he was en route from Sulur to Wellington. The standing committee report stated that the cause of the crash was 'Human Error (Aircrew)'. KS Sowmya Sathyanarayana (2004) South Indian actress K S Sowmya Sathyanarayana, popularly known as Soundarya, lost her life in an air crash on 17 April 2004. Amitabh Bachchan's co-star in Sooryavansham, was flying from Bengaluru to Karimnagar with her brother at the time of the crash. She was reportedly pregnant at the time.
The Wire
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Why the Response to Rahul Gandhi's Accusation of a Stolen Election Is Less Than Convincing
It has taken the Election Commission four months to respond to opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's first disturbing accusation at a press conference in February – that the Commission had somehow managed not to notice that there were 16 lakh more adults on the voters' list for the Maharashtra assembly elections than the entire adult population of the state , and that while the electorate in the state had increased by 32 lakh persons between the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it had increased by 39 lakhs in five months between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in 2024 . On June 7, Rahul Gandhi repeated the accusation with elaborations in an editorial page article in the Indian Express . Its responses came in the same newspaper in the form of an elaborate piece by reporters quoting an unnamed official of the Election Commission and a condescending article belittling Rahul Gandhi, by no less important a person than the chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. That these were published within 24 hours of Gandhi's article shows that the Indian Express had felt it necessary to submit Gandhi's letter to the Modi government and had waited for its response before publishing . This extraordinary act of caution from a newspaper widely respected for its courage shows just how severe the pressure from the Modi government on the media has become during the past 11 years. Since these are separate pieces, I shall deal with their merits separately. Defending the present system for the constitution of the Election Commission, the piece by three Indian Express writers asks why no previous government did not institutionalise a 'more transparent appointment mechanism'. The answer is that till the advent of the Modi government, no previous regime had felt the need to do so. This was because the Chief Election Commissioner was appointed by presidents and prime ministers of India who so deeply respected the letter and the spirit of the Constitution that the possibility that any one of them would conspire with the government in power to gerrymander the result of a Lok Sabha or assembly election had never arisen. T. Swaminathan was the CEC in 1975 when Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency and in 1977 when, despite having been warned by the Intelligence Bureau that the Congress would lose heavily in the next election she went ahead with it. As P.N. Dhar, her principal secretary in those years, has written in his memoirs, the possibility of continuing the Emergency for another year never arose in her mind. By the same token, S.L. Shakdher was the CEC when the Congress (I) came roaring back to power in 1980. No one questioned his complete integrity either then or later. Then, T.N. Seshan put an end to booth capturing by splitting the Lok Sabha elections into several phases and getting every polling station guarded by the police or the Central Reserve Police Forces. The opposition went to the Supreme Court only after it became convinced that Modi was pressuring the Election Commission members to secure decisions from them. This became public knowledge when the next-in-line CEC, Ashok Lavasa, abruptly submitted his resignation to the President of India, to join the Asian Development Bank in August 2020 . He did so because he did not agree with the CEC's exoneration of Modi and home minister Shah from charges of violating the EC's Model Code of Conduct during their campaigning for the 2019 elections. It was this blatant discord within the Commission that made the Supreme Court issue its directive in 2023 that future election commissioners had to be selected jointly by the prime minister, the leader of the opposition, and the Chief Justice of India. The Modi government once again treated this directive with contempt, and made a mockery of the Supreme Court directive by passing an amended version that replaced the CJI in the three-member panel of selectors with a minister, pretty much, of the prime minister's choice. The Indian Express piece quotes an unnamed 'senior Election Commission official', who says: 'Now for the first time a law made by Parliament under article 325 is in place for the appointment of the CEC and ECs … now there is consultancy, there is transparency'. This is an insult to anyone who reads the English language. The only 'transparency' in the new law is that in the future it shall be the prime minister who will appoint all the members of the Election Commission. Coming to Rahul Gandhi's second charge, that 41 lakh new voters were added to the electoral rolls in five months between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the lengthy response on Indian Express can be summed up in one sentence: if there has been widespread electoral malpractice, then why did no one from a single opposition party lodge a complaint before the election? It points out, '[P]olitical parties are involved at every stage of preparing the final electoral roll…Election authorities regularly hold meetings with political parties, provide them free copies of draft and final rolls, and publish these on official websites. During the summary revision period, weekly lists of additions and deletions are shared to allow objections.' The Election Commission's website has, in fact, a 24-page detailed report that elaborates upon this process at length. Ahead of the Maharashtra election, it went on to add, it held discussions with 103,727 representatives of the various parties, of whom 27,099 were from the Congress. The piece does not say 'various opposition parties', so this offers no clarity on how many were from the Maha Vikas Agadi opposition coalition. What this 'scrutiny' piece did not say was that even if we assume that half of these representatives – so, 52,000 – were from the MVA, then for this number of representatives to examine the lists of 100,186 polling booths, each MVA representative had to examine current and earlier versions of voters' lists that contained close to 2,000 names. Closely comparing current and earlier voting lists for every polling booth, even if comparable lists existed or had been preserved, would have been a mammoth task that few would have been able to accomplish, even if they had considered it necessary. And before the 2024 elections it had never been considered necessary because the nation's trust in the Election Commission had been complete. This is the trust that the Modi government has shattered. This loss of faith is justified. When the Aam Aadmi Party did begin to examine the updated voters' lists closely after its shock defeat in Delhi, it found that the names added and deleted in 17 out of its 70 constituencies using Form 7 of the Election Commission's registration forms had shifted an average of 3% of the vote to the BJP. The impact of these additions and deletions can be judged from the fact that the BJP's winning margin of the vote in Delhi was just 1.99%. It is not surprising therefore that the EC has so far adamantly ignored the demand for access to all the Form 7s that were used to add or delete voters to and from the electoral lists in Maharashtra. Finally the paper is silent on Rahul Gandhi's two most important allegations: How has the voters' list exceeded the entire adult population of Maharashtra by 16 lakhs, and how did the size of the electorate increase by nearly 41 lakhs in five months from the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 to the assembly elections of 2025, when it had increased by only 31 lakhs in five years from 2019 till 2024 ? To this, needless to say, the Election commission has given no answer. So I went to Grok, the 'most advanced' artificial intelligence system developed in the world so far, for an answer. After surveying each and every election and by-election held in India over the past 75 years, it concluded that the result of the assembly election in Maharashtra 'is the biggest mystery in the history of Indian elections'. This is part one of a two-part series on Rahul Gandhi's claims on the Maharashtra elections. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
News18
9 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Why Ex-Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani Had To Postpone His London Trip
Last Updated: Vijay Rupani left Gandhinagar with aide Shailesh Mandalia and staff, reached Ahmedabad airport by 11:45 am, and boarded the London-bound Air India flight that later crashed Former Gujarat Chief Minister and senior Saurashtra leader Vijay Rupani was among the victims of the tragic Ahmedabad plane crash, a loss that has left the state in mourning. According to sources, Rupani had originally planned to travel abroad with his wife, Anjali Rupani, on June 3. However, citing party responsibilities linked to the upcoming by-elections in Punjab and Gujarat, he reportedly postponed his trip. His wife is said to have continued to London as scheduled, while Rupani rebooked his ticket for June 12 — the day he boarded the ill-fated flight. On Thursday morning, Rupani left Gandhinagar for Ahmedabad airport accompanied by his personal assistant, Shailesh Mandalia, and other staff members. They reached the airport around 11:45 am and boarded the London-bound flight. Flight records confirm that Rupani was seated in 2-D in the business class section. The tragic news has left the people of Saurashtra in deep mourning. For many, Vijay Rupani was more than a political leader—he was a trusted guide and a humble presence. His untimely death has brought immense sorrow to his supporters, party workers, and well-wishers across Rajkot, Junagadh, Jamnagar and Kutch. Vijay Rupani's political career began with student activism in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He later served as a Pracharak in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), joined the Jan Sangh, and played a key role in the early formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His commitment to political causes saw him jailed during the Emergency in 1976. Rupani, aged 68, served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2016 to 2021. He represented the Rajkot West constituency in the state assembly during his tenure. The Air India Boeing 737 Dreamliner, with 230 passengers and 12 crew on board, crashed moments after taking off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport leaving 241 on board dead. The aircraft went down near the heavily populated Horse Camp locality, not far from the Civil Hospital. Emergency teams quickly mobilised to douse the flames and search for survivors amid the wreckage. More than 200 DNA samples have been collected to help identify the victims of the Air India Flight AI-171 crash. So far, five bodies have been returned to their families following post-mortem examinations. Meanwhile, the investigation into the cause of the crash is progressing on multiple fronts. Officials are examining four possible scenarios behind the tragedy: a bird strike, simultaneous engine failure, fuel contamination, and aircraft overloading. Investigators are also combing through the plane's maintenance logs to see if any scheduled checks or repairs were overlooked. Critical data from the flight recorder and radar systems is being analysed. Additionally, the lone survivor's account is offering valuable insight. According to the survivor, the plane appeared to lose thrust shortly after take-off. Moments later, it surged forward and crashed, raising the possibility of a sudden loss of engine power. First Published: June 13, 2025, 16:12 IST
News18
14 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
From ABVP To Gujarat's Go-To Man: Remembering Vijay Rupani, BJP's Quiet Crisis Manager
Last Updated: A man of few words, always calm, respectful, and grounded—Vijay Rupani's legacy is one of grace, service, and simplicity He began his political journey with the ABVP, moving on to become an RSS Pracharak, a Jan Sangh member, and later, one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was even imprisoned during the Emergency in 1976. This was the trajectory of Vijay Rupani—a journey familiar to many of us who followed Gujarat politics closely. I first encountered Rupani in late 2014 when I was newly assigned to cover Parliament. As a fellow Gujarati, I was thrilled to meet someone from my home state—more so because he hailed from Rajkot, not far from my family's roots in Morbi, both towns nestled in the Saurashtra region. Rupani was cautious in his public speech, much like many seasoned Gujarat politicians, who often avoided media soundbites. Yet every time he saw me among a group of journalists, he greeted me with his signature warmth: 'Kem cho, Ben?" A couple of years later, Gujarat politics was in turmoil again—this time over who would succeed then chief minister Anandiben Patel. Rupani confided in a few of us in Parliament that he was being called back to Gujarat. The very next day, I found myself at the BJP office in Gandhinagar. True to BJP tradition, I joked with Rupani: 'I'm not even mentioning your name as a contender because the moment we do that in your party, it's guaranteed not to happen!" At that point, all buzz pointed to Nitin Patel as the successor. Like most journalists, I went to his residence, interviewed him, and then returned to the BJP headquarters to file the story. My office insisted I return to Delhi, assuming the central observers' meeting was just a formality. But destiny had other plans. By the time I reached the airport, news broke that Union minister Nitin Gadkari had declared Rupani as the next chief minister of Gujarat. Connecting with him again in 2017 during the assembly elections was not easy. Our interactions became somewhat heated, but even in disagreement, Rupani never lost his calm. Whether in Delhi or Gujarat, he always greeted me with genuine warmth. In 2021, I was again rushed to Gujarat amid speculation of a leadership change. When it became clear that Rupani was stepping down, he did so with grace, making way for Bhupendra Patel. That transition too had its quirks—Patel himself only found out about his appointment when someone sitting beside him at the meeting informed him. Rupani later bowed out of electoral politics before the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections. He was the first senior leader to do so, paving the way for others, including his former deputy CM Nitin Patel. Yet, Rupani remained active, campaigning wholeheartedly for the party and later being appointed as Punjab in-charge—an organisational challenge given the BJP's limited presence there. Even in that new terrain, he handled his role with quiet efficiency and understanding. My family currently resides in Kolkata and belongs to the Jain community. His passing has sent shockwaves through Jain circles across Gujarat and Bengal. When I spoke to my mother last afternoon, she mourned his loss deeply and recalled how he had humbly attended our family guru's event, making a significant contribution to jeev daya—the Jain principle of compassion towards all living beings. She also shared a tribute from Jain Guru Namra Muni Ji: 'A beloved son of the Jain community, a true gem and lover of all living beings—Vijaybhai Rupani's service will always be remembered." I also spoke with former Gujarat minister Saurabh Patel, who expressed his sorrow: 'Words fail me. Rupani-ji's greatest strength was his accessibility—he always listened. I remember how he led with resolve during the Covid-19 crisis, especially when oxygen shortages became critical. He took charge and helped the state navigate through one of its most challenging phases. His passing is an irreparable loss for Gujarat and Rajkot in particular." Senior journalist Sheela Bhatt, who has witnessed the rise of many Gujarat leaders, reflected: 'He was an affable Saurashtrian, deeply rooted in the RSS ideology. Though a Jain Baniya by birth, caste never defined him. His unwavering commitment to the RSS brought him close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. During the BJP's internal crisis under Shankersinh Vaghela's revolt, Rupani emerged as a silent saviour—working beyond Rajkot to secure Saurashtra for Keshubhai Patel's faction. He later rose to become BJP state president and was widely seen as close to the party's top brass." Tragedy struck the Rupani family early in life when their youngest son, Pujit, died in an accident. Deeply affected, the family established a trust in his name to support the education of underprivileged children in Rajkot's slum areas. The trust has since empowered countless bright students—carrying forward the legacy of a young life lost too soon. His wife, Anjali Rupani, was not only a pillar of strength but also a strong influence in his political journey. 'Rupani will be sorely missed in Rajkot," Bhatt adds. 'As CM, he drove development with real vision—roads, grain markets, digital initiatives, data systems… He was a textbook example of a grassroots karyakarta rising to the top in regional politics." Meanwhile, in London, a daughter awaiting the 10-hour flight of her father to be with them at home—a flight that will never reach—is an unthinkable loss for the family. As Gujarat mourns, the loss feels profoundly personal. A man of few words, always calm, respectful, and grounded—Vijay Rupani's legacy is one of grace, service, and simplicity. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from politics to crime and society. Stay informed with the latest India news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : ABVP Ahmedabad Plane Crash BJP Vijay Rupani First Published: June 13, 2025, 11:03 IST
Daily Express
15 hours ago
- General
- Daily Express
Scheme to boost water pressure in Penampang: Water Department
Published on: Friday, June 13, 2025 Published on: Fri, Jun 13, 2025 By: Sidney Skinner Text Size: A new valve was put in place. THE Water Department hopes to boost the pressure of the main incoming supply to Country Heights Apartments, in Penampang, once it launches its new Emergency Water Supply Scheme (EWSS) plant in Kasigui at the end of the month. Operations at the facility are tentatively due to get underway from June 22, giving the agency access to between three to five million litres of treated water daily (MLD). Advertisement This is on top of the 55 MLD which is produced, under normal circumstances, at the existing Kasigui treatment plant. A Department spokesman said the administration was aware that the strength of the supply reaching the bulk meter for the Apartments was not what it should be. 'The pressure is particularly low at night,' he said. 'After 10pm, water from this part of the district is pushed to Putatan.' He said the supply was re-directed back to Country Heights around 5am. The pressure problem at the Apartments was partly aggravated by the hilly terrain on which the residential property was built, according to him. 'When the volume of water at our R6B reservoir, overlooking Donggongon, falls below a certain level, it can affect the strength of the supply channelled to Country Heights. This most recently happened in the second half of May.' The spokesman said the Department was optimistic about the additional resources from the EWSS plant helping it to mitigate the water problems at the residential property. 'We intend to carry out a stabilisation exercise early next month to try and improve the situation at the Apartments.' He was responding to feedback about the intermittent supply which consumers at Country Heights had been experiencing since April. WILLA, who occupies a ground floor unit, said she frequently lost her tapwater in the early morning. 'When the supply comes back in the late afternoon, it has a murky quality,' she said. 'Occasionally, the water will change colour and become completely white.' She hoped the Department would intervene to put an end to these irregularities, for the benefit of the 6,000 occupants staying on the property. Her grievance was forwarded to the agency. The spokesman said its technicians went to the Apartments, shortly after being contacted by the media. They noted that water was reaching the bulk-meter and entering the ground tanks, according to him. 'The pressure of the supply, at the time, was observed to be low,' he said. 'Our personnel checked on the condition of the distribution mains leading to the meter and found that some of the fixtures were faulty. A strainer and valve was subsequently replaced.' He said the strength of the water entering the tanks improved slightly after these changes were made. Given this turn of events, he said, the agency's staff had been asked to check on the water situation at Country Heights from time to time. A spokesman for the Apartments' management company said the property had periodically lost its main incoming supply between 10pm and 6am since April. 'Even when the supply did not disappear, the pressure was very low,' he said. 'It was only about five to 10 per cent of what it should be.' 'Owing to this, there was not enough water in our ground tanks for us to give our tenants a supply the following morning.' He said the firm generally released water for a few hours twice a day – once in the morning and then at night. 'The management has had to control the flow of water from our elevated and ground tanks to our tenants. If the supply is not controlled, then those living on the upper floors would have no chance of getting any water at all.' The spokesman said this task had become exceedingly difficult since April 17, when there had intermittently been 'zero' input to the tanks for Country Heights at night. He said multiple calls had been made to the Department's Careline since then about these water woes. Two letters were also despatched to the agency, according to him, the first on May 13, the second on June 6. 'We are still waiting to receive an official response to our correspondence.' * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
