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The politician's trusty whirligig

Sheela Bhatt and Soroor Ahmed in Patna

Election coverage in India is particularly interesting in Bihar.

When we reached Patna airport to cover the elections there we saw a strange sight -- 15-odd helicopters waiting for the VIP's to take them to election meetings.

One pilot told rediff.com, "People of Bihar fantasise about helicopters. If a leader takes helicopter to an election meeting, 3,000 people will surely turn up to see the chopper rather than the leader. Sometimes, I feel the helicopter draws more crowd than the charisma of leader. Helicopters are the real netas of Bihar."

The story of helicopters in Bihar harks back to Indira Gandhi, who used to tour the state with her son Rajiv in the early 1980s.

Till 1998, helicopters in Lok Sabha elections were confined to the privileged. But now almost all Union ministers from Bihar, besides film actors, actresses hover over the electorate.

"This is nothing new to Bihar. Come elections and all the netas clash at the airport. And their behaviour is terrible," says another pilot.

Recalling the incident of Laloo Yadav, he says, "When his chopper was about to take-off, Laloo Yadav ordered one inspector to bring a rasgoola and chicken chilli pakodas. The pilot of his chopper told him that we have already got the clearance signal from the air traffic controller. So, it was not advisable to stop."

Laloo agreed but after the chopper took off he saw the inspector running up with the rasgollas.

"He then compelled the pilot to land on the strip so that he could have his rasgolla before taking off," the pilot says.

At times, rival partymen bump into each other. Once arch political enemies Mulayam Singh Yadav, home minister Lal Krishna Advani and Laloo Yadav bumped into each other at the airport while waiting for their choppers.

Knowing of his witty remarks, Laloo stated in his rustic Bihari brogue, ' Lagta hai Cheen par hamla hone ja raha hai (Looks like China is going to be attacked).'

Hiring a chopper is apparently not an easy task. The price ranges from Rs 40,000 per hour to Rs 80,000, depending on the quality of the chopper. Since pilots aren't available in Bihar, the politicians have to rely on pilots from other states. These pilots often can't differentiate between the Janata Dal (United) and RJD functions because both parties have green in their flags.

In Aurangabad, the choppers of Nitish Kumar and Kanshi Ram landed in adjoining fields. Yashwant Sinha and Rabri Devi faced a similar problem in Hazaribagh. The Union finance minister had to conclude his speech in a hurry because the crowds began moving towards the chief minister when she came in.

"Why should the top leaders waste time on road journeys during the short time they have for campaigning. It is due to the choppers that they can reach even the smallest townships," says a senior RJD leader.

However, Congress leader Arjun Singh preferred to go it by road so that he could understand the local situation better. But others in the Congress, like Rajesh Pilot and Madhav Rao Scindia, preferred the high-flying option.

Of course, the party candidates do find it difficult to find suitable helipads at the places they visit. But necessity being the mater of invention, they've discovered the best way to get the work done: They advertise and appeal to their party members in the newspapers, 'Help in the construction of helipads for our leader.' Going by the number of politicians flying around, it appears to have worked.

Assembly Election 2000

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