HE STARTED by leasing a helicopter to the makers of the Ajay-Devgn-starrer “Kachche Dhaage” in 1999. Today, Gulab Singh Tanwar is an integral part of the BJP’s election campaign — his Saarthi Airways provides aircraft and helicopters to the party’s top leaders, including BJP chief Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on the poll trail. Tanwar, a former Indian Airlines pilot, says he has been with the BJP since the days of Kushabhau Thakre and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, and does not lease his fleet to any other political party. “Loyalty matters in this business, it is your biggest asset,” he says. Lok Sabha Elections 2019 | Polling schedule, results date, constituency-wise results, how to check live counting Tanwar says his fleet has been utilised by BJP leaders in all elections since 2004 — he owns two helicopters, a Bell 206 and a Falcon that will be inducted by May-end. “There are 10 other aircraft, which have been taken on lease from others,” he says. According to Tanwar, the rentals for his helicopters start from Rs 65,000 to Rs 70,000 per hour — for a small Bell 206D model — and up to Rs 2.7 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per hour for larger and executive helicopters, such as Bell 412, Agusta 139 and Eurocopter EC155. “The rates attract a 5-10 per cent premium during elections due to the increased demand, but are still half of those in some of the more developed markets because of internal competition,” he says. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data show that the chartered aircraft market has grown from 11 non-scheduled operators in 1993, with 27 aircraft, to 109 operators with 349 aircraft, which transported about 15.39 lakh passengers in 2017-18. And according to industry estimates, major political parties have spent over Rs 500 crore on hiring aircraft and helicopters in the last five years, with private providers earning a profit margin of 3-7 per cent. In his case, says Tanwar, “about 5-10 per cent of payment is made in advance and the rest by the time the assignment is complete”. During elections, Tanwar is a familiar face at the Delhi airport, often spotted escorting BJP leaders and senior ministers to their aircraft. Sometimes, he says, he reaches their destinations, too, to receive them. So much so, he claims, Prime Minister Narendra Modi once asked in jest: “Tum aadmi ya bhoot? Kabhi idhar, kabhi udhar (Are you human or a ghost? Sometimes here, sometimes there).” “I am a businessman. But since I am a BJP member, I travel with its leaders and sometimes they talk about many things. Tomorrow, if I travel with some other party’s leader, it would lead to discomfort for me and my leaders. It’s not right. I want to avoid that.” On doing business with the BJP, Tanwar says: “They will bargain for every penny. But once it is finalised, they don’t bother you. The payment will be on time and in cheques.” Tanwar says he quit his job as a pilot in 1997 before moving to the charter business. What followed, he says, was a “story of ups and downs, gains and losses”. “But my association with the BJP and the affection of its leaders has been a shield,” he says. It was Shekhawat, the former Rajasthan Chief Minister who became the country’s Vice President, who first asked Tanwar to join the Yuva Morcha and work with BJP leaders — “first in Rajasthan, then Delhi and in Uttarakhand”. During the 2019 elections, while Prime Minister Modi uses aircraft under a special security arrangement, other BJP leaders such as Shah, Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, V K Singh and Smriti Irani use Saarthi Airways for their campaign tours, says Tanwar. “In 2014, it was mainly Modi and Rajnath Singh. Also, there were L K Advani, M Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. But now, it’s mostly Shah and Rajnath Singh,” he says. His success, he says, has now given him the courage to try his luck in films. His production firm, Saarthi Entertainment, was behind the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer ‘Teen’ and the Netflix film ‘Rajma Chawal’ in which his son Anirudh also featured. It also funded the film ‘Parched’. “Many BJP leaders scolded me, asking if I had gone mad. But I take that risk sometimes,” he says.
