Ashok Gajapathi Raju Believed In Calling A Spade A Spade

A Wikipedia entry lists Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju as a scion of the royal family of erstwhile Vizianagaram princely state, the younger son of the last maharaja of Vizianagaram. One would be forgiven for thinking that with such a lineage, Raju would throw many royal tantrums during his stint as the civil aviation minister. His three-and-a-half-year run in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government ended earlier this week, when the Telugu Desam Party withdrew both its ministers from the Centre.

Having interacted with him throughout his tenure at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan in New Delhi, one can confidently say Raju just didn’t believe in throwing tantrums. He was civil to a fault, asking reporters to some tea if they pestered him for quotes instead of walking away, as is usually the norm. Raju even lined up to board a commercial flight each time, just like any of us. No special privileges were expected, and none were accorded, either in office or while travelling for work. Yes, there was an unseemly controversy when Raju boasted that after becoming the civil aviation minister, he could carry a cigarette lighter on board since he wasn’t frisked like the aam aadmi.

But mostly, his tenure was unremarkable so far as controversies are concerned.

Though civil, Raju was known to speak his mind on several contentious issues. He never shied away from calling a spade a spade. When there were hectic and often acerbic exchanges happening among stakeholders over the dilution of the long-standing 5/20 rule (which barred domestic airlines from overseas operations unless they had operated domestic routes for five years and had a fleet of 20 aircraft), Raju left no one in doubt about his views. Amid intense lobbying for and against the move, he said repeatedly that the logic of keeping both the conditions while denying domestic carriers foreign operations just didn’t exist. The 5/20 was eventually diluted so that only the 20 aircraft condition remains today. Thanks to this change, new airlines AirAsia India and Vistara can look at the option of starting international operations.

Again, on Air India too, his views were quite well-known. He often admitted that Air India’s books were bad, its debt was perhaps much more than the Rs 50,000 crore figure being bandied about, and that the airline needed some discipline to be able to survive. The fact that Air India’s debt could actually be closer to Rs 70,000 crore became known recently only after an interview appeared of Raju putting that figure out there. Some say Raju may not have been keen on going along with the government’s intent on strategic disinvestment in Air India, believing that if the airline’s debt was tackled, Air India’s fortunes could be turned around even with government ownership. This viewpoint of his could not be confirmed, though.

Uday Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, which seeks to take flying to the masses by connecting Tier-II and Tier-III cities and providing tickets at a cost of Rs 2,500 for an hour of flying – was conceived and launched under Raju’s stewardship. It was a pet project of the Narendra Modi government and had been tried in different avatars during earlier regimes too.

UDAN has already seen two rounds of bidding and now there is talk of some state governments wanting to extend it to international routes. It is true that not all of the ambitions under UDAN have been realised – helicopter operations under the scheme, for instance, are yet to start, not all the unused airports envisaged under the scheme have been operationlised and so on. But at least it is a start to get India’s hinterland on the aviation map. The ministry, under Raju, was also working to devise a drone policy and ensure that air bookings be linked to biometrics.

Then, after repeated incidents of members of Parliament physically assaulting airline crew, Raju and his team eventually devised a no-fly list for disruptive air travellers. Raju was almost manhandled in Parliament in his attempts to get the list out, but even that did not deter his pursuit of such a list. His tenure also saw the start of the new airport projects in Mopa (Goa) and Navi Mumbai – these projects have been hanging fire for several years.

Last but not the least, Raju’s tenure also saw stupendous growth in domestic air traffic, catapulting India to the club of the fastest-growing aviation markets anywhere in the world. While this is good news, what remains a herculean task is upgrading and creating new infrastructure to handle such rapid traffic growth. Very little has been done on this front by successive governments and Raju too leaves behind a policy vacuum on that front, never mind the frequent assertions of large capex plans of the Airports Authority of India.

Now that the Prime Minister has himself assumed charge of the civil aviation ministry, perhaps key issues like infrastructure bottlenecks will get the attention they deserve. As for the Air India disinvestment, it is already delayed – the expression of interest document was initially slated for release last month. This will provide crucial details of the sale. Will the Prime Minister’s close attention help expedite Air India stake sale is anyone’s guess. But his direct involvement sure underscores the importance of the ministry of civil aviation and the job he had entrusted Raju with earlier.