Inaugural flight lands at Navi Mumbai airport, but demand for its naming after DB Patil yet to settle

Daughter-in-law and grandson of the late farmer leader were among passengers of the flight from Bengaluru that landed Thursday at the newly inaugurated airport.

Passengers leave the departure area of Navi Mumbai International Airport on Thursday | PTI

Mumbai: After the first plane touched the tarmac of Navi Mumbai International airport Thursday, a stream of passengers with smiling faces came out of the exit zone. One group of passengers was seen carrying a photo frame of the late farmer leader D.B. Patil.

The symbolic gesture by Patil’s family members comes at a time when there have been renewed demands to name the airport in honour of the farmer-rights leader who led landmark agitations during Navi Mumbai’s land acquisition years.

“I travelled from Bangalore, (as) I wanted to experience being in the first flight to land at the airport. While I feel elated, we all have only one request to the government, to name the airport after people’s leader D.B. Patil. Yesterday the CM spoke about it, and we believe it will be done but we just want for it to happen soon,” Patil’s grandson Anoop told the media.

Later, Patil’s daughter-in-law was seen carrying the photo frame as the family exited the airport after arriving in IndiGo flight 6E 460.

Last month, Patil’s son Atul Patil had told news agency PTI that it was the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray which first proposed that the Navi Mumbai airport to be named after D B Patil.

“When CM Devendra Fadnavis announced it officially that no name other than that of D B Patil will be used, and he had spoken to the PM and finalised it, our joy knew no bounds,” Atul had said.

The Maharashtra government has proposed naming the Navi Mumbai International Airport after Patil, Fadnavis told the press Wednesday, adding that the proposal is currently being reviewed by the Central government.

The proposal was placed before Prime Minister Narendra Modi. the Maharashtra CM said, adding that he believed that the proposal would be accepted.

Later, City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (CIDCO) V-C and MD Vijay Singhal reiterated the CM’s statement, saying that the state has already sent a proposal, and “we will have to wait for their approval”.

Grassroot leader

Born in 1926 in Jasai village of Maharashtra’s Raigad district, Dinkar Balu Patil,
came from a farmer’s family and was shaped early by social activism. After education from Panvel and Pune, where he earned a law degree, he returned to the erstwhile Colaba district to practice law before entering politics.

Patil was a key leader of the Peasants and Workers Party of India, which held considerable sway in Maharashtra in the 1950s. After the formation of Maharashtra in 1960, he was elected MLA from Panvel in 1962, defeating a Congress candidate with over 5,000 votes. He went on to serve as a four-time MLA, two-time MP, a Legislative Council member, and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly in 1982-83.

But his prominence grew in Raigad during the farmers’ agitation against land acquisition for Navi Mumbai in the 1970s and 1980s. As the face of resistance to CIDCO’s policies, Patil led protests demanding fair compensation and rehabilitation, a movement that peaked in violence in January 1984, leaving five villagers dead and many injured after police firing.

The agitation cemented his position as the undisputed leader of the project-affected people. Patil’s negotiations eventually forced the government to adopt the landmark 12.5 per cent scheme, granting displaced landowners a share of developed land instead of one-time cash compensation.

This move transformed many affected farmers into stakeholders in Navi Mumbai’s urban growth, forging a lasting bond between Patil and the region’s identity. It is this legacy that underpins the demand to name the Navi Mumbai International Airport after him.

Govt deliberations

The naming of the Navi Mumbai International Airport has remained contentious since the project was conceived in 1997. While local groups have long demanded that it be named after D B Patil, even holding rallies since 2000, others have argued it should bear the name of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.

In June 2021, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, then Urban Development Minister, announced that the airport will be named after Bal Thackeray, father of then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The CM, he said, has assured the D.B. Patil Action Samiti, which is spearheading the demand that some other projects be named after the farmer leader.

“We have a lot of respect for D B Patil. The chief minister has requested the action committee to recommend any other project (to be named after DB Patil,” Shinde had said.

In July 2022, the Maharashtra Cabinet under then CM Shinde approved a proposal to name the airport after Patil, though the move was seen as provisional amid doubts over the government’s resolve.

On 26 September 2025, Fadnavis reiterated his hope that the airport would ultimately be named after Patil, noting that a formal proposal has now been sent to the Union government. The CM added that he was confident the Centre would favourably consider the request.

(Edited by Tony Rai)