Explained: Why local people want Navi Mumbai airport to be named after DB Patil, not Bal Thackeray

The protests

Large protests have been continuing sporadically for almost a year now in Navi Mumbai, Raigad, Thane, and Palghar districts against a proposal to name the Navi Mumbai airport after Thackeray.

In December 2020, Maharashtra Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde — the leader of the ongoing rebellion against Shiv Sena boss and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray — had written to the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) asking it to propose that the airport be named after Bal Thackeray. CIDCO followed through on Shinde’s letter.

According to local people however, political leaders had, from the very beginning, agreed that the airport would be named after D B Patil — and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was aware of this. And yet, the government had, suddenly and without consulting local people, decided to name the airport after Thackeray, they say.

The Navi Mumbai Airport All Party Action Committee, a group formed by the protesters, has threatened to stall work on the greenfield airport, if their demand is not met.

D B Patil

Dinkar Balu Patil, also known as D B Patil, was born in Jasai, a village in the Uran taluka of Raigad district. He was associated with the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP).

Born into a farmer’s family, Patil did his LLB in 1951 and, a year later, won an election to the Kolaba district local board. He then represented Panvel in the Maharashtra Assembly for five terms between 1957 and 1980.

He was also the MP from Kolaba in 1977 and 1984, as well as a member of the Legislative Council in 1992. He was Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly from 1972 to 1977, and then again in 1982-83.

He was arrested during the Emergency in 1975.

In high regard

Patil led several protests for farmers and land owners in Panvel district when CIDCO acquired land in the area in the 1970s and 1980s. During a massive protest in 1984, four farmers were killed, which eventually forced the state government to bring in the 12.5 per cent developed land scheme for local farmers, which is now applicable across the state.

Patil fought for the villagers of the Uran area when their land was acquired for Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), and led the protest even while he was in an ambulance at the age of 86. Patil died in 2012 at the age of 87.

“Whenever there was an issue that troubled farmers, workers, or landowners, Patil would lead the protest for their welfare and fight for them. It is because of him that thousands of land owners and farmers got justice and their rights. The welfare of the people was uppermost on his mind,” Dashrath Patil, president of the Navi Mumbai Airport All Party Action Committee, had told The Indian Express in August last year.
“He sacrificed his life fighting for the rights of land owners, workers, farmers, and other communities in the region. It is important that the airport project should be dedicated to the leader who has worked on the land where the airport is being built now,” he said.

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Apart from farmers and landowners, Patil also fought for the rights of OBCs.

Prashant Thakur, the BJP MLA from Panvel, told The Indian Express: “So far no major project in Navi Mumbai or Raigad district has been dedicated to the late D B Patil who fought all his life for the welfare of the farmers of the region where the airport is being built.

“Balasaheb Thackeray’s name has already been given to the Sammrudhi Highway and hence it would be appropriate that the airport is named after Patil. The government should not ignore the demands of the locals.”