A Show Like No Other

Ghazala Wahab

In keeping with the FORCE tradition, the post-show report on DefExpo 2020 lays bare everything — the good, the bad and the ugly. While the article may appear critical, criticism should not be mistaken for mockery. The idea of highlighting the gaps has always been to help find ways of plugging them in the future. Given this, one feels a measure of satisfaction when regular exhibitors make a special pitstop at the FORCE stand at the Show to reminisce about some article that appeared some years ago in one of the issues. A ‘show article’ that is frequently recounted is the one that highlighted the state of the toilets at successive Indian defence and aerospace shows.

“I am sure somebody in the ministry of defence (MoD) was reading your articles,” one visitor to the FORCE stand at DefExpo 2020 in Lucknow told me. “I have noticed that the state of the toilets has progressively improved.” There is truth in the statement as far as the toilets at DefExpo 2020 were concerned. If there was one stand-out element about the show, it was certainly the toilets!

Every show has its own character and purpose. So do Indian defence shows, including DefExpo. It’s pointless to impose characteristics of other international shows on DefExpo, especially DefExpo2020, which was so unique that it cannot even be compared with its previous editions. Unfortunately, uniqueness is not always the good thing. Sometimes straying too far from the script can yield confusing results.

And that has been the case at DefExpo 2020, a show so mixed-up that it can no longer be called a land and naval systems show, which also used to make a passing reference to homeland security. Fighter aircraft flew at DefExpo 2020 to entertain the audience, while tanks kicked up coloured dust on the ground in simulation of land warfare. And nearly 15km away from the show venue, on the banks of river Gomti, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard performed their own tricks. According to a MoD official, part of the organising committee, the Gomti river extravaganza was simply a concurrent event, independent of the Show.

Fair enough, except that, after the previous edition of the Show in Chennai, the then organising committee had declared that the ministry has decided that henceforth all editions of DefExpo will have live water-based demonstration. Hence, all future locations will be along the water front. This was the measure of confusion about the nature of the show that the organising committee also did not know what it was doing and for what purpose. The same MoD official apparently told a foreign exhibitor, who complained about the lack of clarity and support at the show, that DefExpo was an Indian exposition meant to showcase Indian industry. Consequently, hi