New Delhi: Just six days before its opening amid a publicity bombardment of the 12th edition of Defence Expo scheduled to have been held in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar from March 10 to March 14, on Friday, the government in a sudden announcement decided to put off Asia’s largest exhibition on land, naval, air and homeland security systems.
While the defence ministry cited “logistical problems experienced by participants” as the basis for the postponement, speculations are rife as to the real reason for the postponing of the ministry’s biggest biennial show.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had been monitoring the DefExpo 22 to be held for the first time in the PM Narendra Modi's native state on a daily basis. The postponement of the expo has put many participants, including the indigenous start-ups, in a spot and a very costly affair with many pieces of equipment to be exhibited already having being transferred to Gandhinagar.
“This has startled like a bolt from the blue. As far as my company is concerned, we had already made much preparation. Many would have transferred heavy and expensive equipment to Gandhinagar already. How will we make up for our losses?” bemoaned a representative of a young company on condition of not being identified.
What adds to the mystery is how can 'logistical problems experienced by participants' be that important a factor when many of the very companies have taken part and exhibited their wares in Saudi Arabia’s government sponsored first ever ‘World Defense Show’ that began with pomp and show on March 6.
The Saudi show ‘set to showcase the latest technological developments from around the globe and demonstrate defence interoperability across all domains’ was to end on March 9, just a day before the DefExpo was to begin as per the earlier schedule. The two shows had many exhibitors and country delegations in common including the American majors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and the Russian defence biggies like Rosoboronexport, Rostec, Almaz-Antey, and Technodinamika.
The question being asked in the relevant circles is that if these exhibitors and delegations can participate in the Saudi show, then, why not the Indian one? It adds up the relevance of reports that intense pressure was brought upon India during the virtual meeting of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or ‘Quad’ countries on March 3 when India was specifically told that Russian weapons and military systems cannot be exhibited at any cost and that the US companies would boycott the event if the show included the Russian companies. If the challenging intricacies of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is the cause then how come Russian and Ukrainian companies displaying anti-aircraft, air defence systems, tactical armoured vehicles and anti-drone systems respectively set up stalls next to each other?
Expecting a footfall of about 12 lakh visitors, DefExpo with a two-pronged effort of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ was to be spread in more than 1,00,000 square metres of space across three venues. It would have seen 78 participating nations, 39 minister level delegations and 1000-plus registered exhibitors, with more than 3,000 delegates expected to participate in the various seminars and discussions. In the unlikely event of officialdom deciding to ‘out’ the truth, which is unlikely, the mystery of Def Expo 22 will endure.
