Today talk of a Chief Minister who was assassinated by an enemy country. This was Balwantrai Mehta, the second Chief Minister of Gujarat and the father of Panchayati Raj. On 19 September 1965, a Pakistani fighter jet shot down Mehta’s helicopter, killing him. Balwantrai Mehta was the first leader of India who was killed in a military action on the border.
Date 19 September and year 1965. There was tension between the two countries during the Indo-Pakistani War. On September 19, Gujarat Chief Minister Balwantrao Mehta was on his way to Mithapur near Dwarka, about 400 km from Ahmedabad. Here he was to deliver a speech at a rally. Balwantrai Mehta left with his wife Sarojben, three associates and a journalist at around 1.30 pm on the afternoon of 19 September. He met Jehangir Jangu Engineer at the Ahmedabad airport.
Jehangir Jangu Engineer, formerly an Indian Air Force pilot, later served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Chief pilot Jehangir Jangu started the Beechcraft helicopter as soon as everyone got into the plane and then took off for the destination. It was just a short time ago that Pakistan’s fighter pilot Kais Hussain intercepted the Chief Minister’s plane going towards Bhuj near Mithali village. In such a situation, Chief Pilot Jehangir Jangu signaled to Kais Hussain by shaking the wings of the aircraft.
The movement of the wing by an aircraft in the airspace is regarded in flight parlance as ‘a solicitation for mercy or not to take military action of any kind’. Gujarat CM’s pilot Jahangir Jangu also did something similar, but Pakistani fighter pilot Kais Hussain opened fire by targeting. Two fires occurred on Beechcraft helicopter 100 km before Mithapur. Within seconds, Balwantrai Mehta’s Beechcraft helicopter turned into a ball of fire.
After this incident, it was said in the reports that fighter pilot Kais Hussain had entered the Indian border at an altitude of 20 thousand feet that day. At the same time, while talking to the BBC, Kais Hussain later told that he had told his Pak controller that it was a civilian ship. But he was ordered by the Pak controller to shoot down that plane. According to CAS, during the war, Pakistan was apprehensive that that civilian ship was not taking pictures near the border.
However, 46 years after the incident, on 6 August 2011, Fighter Pilot Kais Hussain wrote a letter to Farida Singh, daughter of Jehangir Jangoo Engineer, expressing regret over the incident and apologized. After which Farida Singh, daughter of Jangu Engineer also sent a reply on Kais Hussain’s letter. Let us tell you that Balwantrai Mehta was the second Chief Minister of Gujarat.