Three years of BJP governance in Madhya Pradesh have delivered more airports than the entire British colonial era, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav claimed on Sunday, 9 August 2026 — a pointed historical comparison designed to frame his government's infrastructure record against decades of perceived underinvestment.

In the post, Dr. Yadav laid out a sharp timeline: 'अंग्रेज़ों के जमाने में मध्यप्रदेश को 4 एयरपोर्ट मिले' ('Madhya Pradesh received 4 airports during the British era'), one more followed under the Janata Party government in 1978 at Khajuraho, and now — he asserts — his own government has built 3 new airports in just three years.

Khajuraho to the present: a slow-moving aviation map

For decades, Madhya Pradesh's aviation infrastructure was concentrated around a handful of legacy sites. The Khajuraho Airport, opened in 1978, served the state's most iconic tourism draw — a UNESCO World Heritage Site famed for its medieval temples — but broader connectivity remained thin. The state's sheer geographic size, sitting at the heart of the subcontinent, made the gap between its population and its air links particularly stark.

That context is precisely what makes Dr. Yadav's comparison land as a political argument. By anchoring the before-and-after to the colonial period, he frames the BJP's three-year tenure not just as incremental progress but as a generational leap.

UDAN's role in MP's airport push

The national backdrop matters here. The central government's UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) regional connectivity scheme, launched in 2016, has been the primary engine for developing new airports and routes across states including Madhya Pradesh. India's operational airport count has grown from around 74 in 2014 to over 140 by the early 2020s — and state governments have increasingly partnered with the centre to claim a share of that expansion.

Dr. Yadav's claim of 3 new airports in 3 years fits squarely within this national trajectory, though the specific count and completion status of each facility have not been independently verified. What is clear is that state-level airport projects now combine central UDAN funding with state initiatives — making the political credit a genuinely contested space between Delhi and Bhopal.

The arithmetic of ambition

The numbers Dr. Yadav chose are deliberate. Four airports across the entire British era. One under the Janata Party in 1978. Three in three years under the BJP. The progression is designed to be read as acceleration — and as a rebuke to rival parties who governed the state for long stretches without, he implies, matching this pace. Whether voters in a landlocked, largely agrarian state feel the difference on the ground is the real test ahead.

With more state-central airport partnerships in the pipeline and fresh UDAN phases still rolling out, Madhya Pradesh's aviation map is not done being redrawn — and Dr. Yadav has made clear he intends to keep score publicly.