Vijay Rupani death: Gujarat witnessed a heart-wrenching moment on Thursday as former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was confirmed dead in the Air India AI 171 crash near Ahmedabad. The 68-year-old senior BJP leader, who served as the 16th Chief Minister of the state from 2016 to 2021, was among the 242 passengers and crew aboard the ill-fated Boeing 787 Dreamliner, bound for London.

The aircraft crashed into a densely populated residential area in Meghani Nagar, just five minutes after take-off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, erupting in a massive explosion that sent plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic, fire, and shattered homes as emergency services rushed to the site in a desperate attempt to rescue survivors and contain the blaze.

The flight was being piloted by Captain Sumit Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kunder. While the full extent of casualties is still being determined, officials confirmed that Vijay Rupani’s name was on the flight manifest, and later in the evening, his death was confirmed.

This tragic incident marks the second time a former or sitting Gujarat Chief Minister has perished in an air accident, drawing painful parallels to a haunting chapter in India’s political history. In September 1965, Balwantrai Mehta, Gujarat’s second Chief Minister and a Gandhian, was killed when a civilian Beechcraft aircraft was shot down by the Pakistani Air Force during the Indo-Pak war. Mistaken for a military aircraft, Mehta’s plane was targeted by two F-86 Sabre jets near the Rann of Kutch. The crash claimed the lives of Mehta, his wife Sarojben, several aides, a journalist, and two crew members. Though Pakistan later described it as a wartime misidentification, it never issued an official apology.

The emotional scars of that incident linger even today. In 2011, decades after the tragedy, the Pakistani pilot responsible reportedly reached out with a letter of regret to the daughter of the Indian pilot who had flown the Beechcraft, as reported by The Indian Express. The 1965 incident remains one of the darkest aviation-related political tragedies in India’s history.

Rupani’s sudden death now joins that grim list of national losses. Known for his soft-spoken demeanor and administrative grip, Rupani had been a pivotal figure in Gujarat politics, especially during the post-2014 BJP consolidation. He represented the Rajkot West constituency and was widely regarded as a loyalist of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

India has witnessed similar tragic losses in political aviation history. In 2009, Andhra Pradesh CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash over the Nallamala forests, attributed to poor weather and a combination of mechanical and human error. In 2011, Dorjee Khandu, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, perished when his helicopter went down in the treacherous Himalayan terrain. His remains were found days later at an altitude of 13,700 feet.