Direct flights - now Direct action - not yet

The direct flight between London (Heathrow) and Ahmedabad in India – Gujarat – has raised enormous interest over a long period of time. This direct flight is justifiable from every commercial and non commercial angle. Gujarat and surrounding states especially Southern Rajasthan and Western Madhya Pradesh are developing very rapidly. The largest proportion of British investment in India is in Gujarat. Amongst the hundreds of Indian companies operating in Britain especially in London and other parts of South East England are involving people whose origins and operations are in Gujarat.
1.5 million or more people of Indian origin reside in the United Kingdom especially in a trapezium with Manchester in the north west, Leeds in the north east, Birmingham to the west, Leicester to the east and London down south. The total area is about 8,000 sq miles. Outside India Britain has the largest concentration of people of Indian origin in such a small area who comprise outstanding excellence in education, professions as well as earnings. In spite of the petitions signed by thousands including Lords, MPs and successful business and commerce leaders, the UPA government suddenly stopped the successful direct flights for some ulterior motives ie some private airlines and failed to reconnect London with Ahmedabad. Several readers have written about the justification for their demand. Some letters have been published in Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar. Some we have been unable to publish as we found them most provocative or unduly harsh towards Mr Narendra Modi.
Let us look at some facts. In his first year Narendra Modi travelled to 19 countries, spent 52 days and worked extremely hard to connect with policy makers and people of those far flung countries. It was important to encourage investment and trade with India.
As far as we know Air India did not cancel regular flights as had happened during the foreign travels of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
One of the reasons may be that Air India now has more planes at their disposal or Mr Modi has not always demanded a separate plane or two. Secondly, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha (Qatar) have all experienced rapid development for various reasons but mainly due to air connectivity which has enabled airlines to reach the front line of international air travel. Thirdly, Prime Minister Modi is fully aware of the importance of cultivating the interest of the overseas Indians. In September last year the phenomenal Madison Square Reception was, in a way, encouraged by the BJP party and helped Mr Modi's endeavours with the foreign governments, and helped US Indians to acquire more public profile. The benefits to India are on all fronts from trade and commerce to diplomacy.
UK based Indians have special place due to the historical links between the UK and India. British Indians are one of the oldest settlements in the developed world. In the last 15 years Gujarat has become an increasingly important state for business and commerce and industry. Readers have failed to understand why Prime Minister Modi has not yet taken a prompt and proper decision to restart direct flights which was originally his initiative in 2003. What stops him from doing what is just and right for the benefit of India in every spear of human activity?
Unfortunately there are three incidents which are very painful and shocking for British Indians.
1. The Minister for Civil Aviation Mr Ashok Gajpati Raju made irresponsible comments about direct flights (see page 25, AV April 11 )
2. A senior minister within Mr Modi's cabinet is reported to have said at a gathering of BJP supporters in London earlier this year that Gujarat is receiving lots of attention from Prime Minister Modi and then just said 'now here you want direct flights hahaha'.
3. It has come to the attention of people working within the travel industry in both Ahmedabad and Britain that in the forthcoming winter schedule Air India is proposing 4 direct flights from India to 4 additional destinations. One route mentioned is between Hyderabad and London. Fine, good in that sense one hopes that Ahmedabad-London direct flights would gain even more priority.
Air India, Civil Aviation Ministry of India or the Prime Minister's office in Delhi have not yet released the data on the potential or their survey of the pasenger traffic for London-Ahmedabad direct flights. 
The simple facts are that on average more than 7,000 people fly from London to India every week and almost equal number of passengers fly from India to UK. Hearing from several main travel agents it transpires that at least 1/3 of these passengers have destinations in Gujarat and it is everybody's knowledge that business and trade is in the blood of Gujaratis.
Several people and organisations are demanding a direct action for direct flights. They have experienced situations when the powers that be do only respond fairly and properly to public demonstration as per the Gandhian principle of constitutional and peaceful protest. One such example in that of The Hare Krishna temple near Watford which is open for devotees today because Hindus, with the help of large number of none Hindus, came out in their 1,000s (over 35,000 in all) on 14th March 1994 to protest the local council's unjust decision to close it down. Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice readers where at the forefront of that campaign.
We have told those people and organisations who wish for direct action to hold off for a while and not rush to take that option at this time. Let Mr Modi have a few more weeks to sort out this problem and give us the justice we really need and deserve.
It is possible that Mr Modi will visit the UK between now and possibly the forthcoming Diwali. He has a very, very busy diary and works exceedingly hard for the all round development of India. He is fully aware of the importance of a more structured relationship with the British government led by Prime Minister Cameron who has been hyper active vis-a-vis India. Also Mr Modi would like to revisit many of his friends and admirers in the UK who were among his earliest supporters in his most difficult days post Godhra tragedy of train burning.
To all my readers and supporters I plead for some time for Mr Modi and to Prime Minister Modi I say don’t delay your decision unnecessarily.
There is one more possibility. I have been talking to several respectable individuals who are involved in the travel business. With permission of the Indian government and the Civil Aviation Ministry a group of business based in London are prepared, at least for one year, to fund a direct charter flight between Ahmedabad and London provided the necessary and legal documents are drawn up between the civil aviation ministry of the Indian government and the London business group which is headed by a very experienced and successful businessman.
The logic is very simple. There is a potential for a number of passengers and starting with one flight over a few months the viability of direct flights with confirmation to increase more flights. In any case this London based group is willing to underwrite chartered flights to Ahmedabad. Prime Minister Modi, his ministers and officials should listen to such an option. Ideally, the best solution to this problem is for Air India to start at least one flight a week at the earliest to test the waters.
- CB