After the ceasefire on Sunday during the armed forces briefing, one of the most important and articulate voices was that of Awadesh Kumar Bharti, the Director General of Air Operations. The Indian Air Force officer’s parents recalled the brilliant young student who always had a dream of joining the armed forces and later on played a key role in one of India’s most important counter-terror missions – Operation Sindoor.
Bharti’s father was a clerk in the irrigation department, and his mother was a housewife. Air Marshal Bharti always had a good academic record, which ultimately landed him in the Sainik School in Tilaia in what is now Jharkhand.
Air Marshal Bharti’s mother, Urmila Devi, told NDTV, “He was simple as a child and continues to be the same way even now. He always said he wanted to join the armed forces, even when he was a child, and he achieved that.”
AK Bharti’s career
Air Marshal Bharti joined the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force in 1987. He was awarded the President’s Air Force Medal in the year 2008 and was promoted to Air Marshal in 2023. He has been the commanding officer of a Sukhoi-30 Squadron and, before taking over his current assignment, he was posted as the Senior Staff Officer (SASO) at the Central Air Command in Prayagraj.
Urmila Devi, told NDTV that Air Marshal Bharti is a ‘deshbhakt’ (patriot) and is continuing to do patriotic acts.
She added, “My son has shone the spotlight on Jhunni Kala and Purnia… He has done well for himself and ensured that his children have done the same. He is married to a woman from Kashmir… I don’t have much to say about how proud I am, it is for the world to see. I am happy. The world knows whose son, whose grandson made the country proud.”