The North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has always had a negative perception about it. The most populous state of India, with 1/6th of the nation’s population residing in Uttar Pradesh, the state has had a dubious reputation of being a ‘Dark State‘, steeped in ignorance, illiteracy, cast discrimination and that of being the crime hub of the nation. Being a significant constituent of the BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh), with the term ‘BIMARU‘ implying that these states were ailing in terms of overall development, Uttar Pradesh was a name which used to make most residents of the comparatively ‘developed’ states flinch.
In such a scenario, emerged an unconventional leader – a saffron clad hindu seer, who is hell bent on transforming the ‘dark state’, the state of despair into one of hope and re-emergence, as an epitome of development and modernization, of order and discipline, of academic and corporate excellence. Yogi Adityanath, the incumbent Chief Minister of UP has developed into a cult figure, revered by the Nationalists not only for his aggressive stance and unabashed commitment towards the cause of nationalism, of rendering justice to the hindus persecuted for long by opportunist politicians who earlier ruled the state, in order to appease the other communities but also for his continual development agenda. It is for these very reasons that he is loathed by the Leftist Liberals, who are dishing out every possible armour in their kitty to defame him so that he is unable to make a comeback in 2022.
The Caravan’s January 1 edition featuring leftist author, Dhirendra K. Jha’s article ‘Adityanath’s reign of terror’ is a ‘no shocker’ as far as the Liberals ‘ stance with respect to Yogi Adityanath is concerned. Yogiji was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Born in June, 1972 in Pawri, Garhwal to a forst ranger, the second child in a family of four, Yogiji had majored in Mathematics from Garhwal University. He reached Gorakhpur and became the disciple of the Head Mahant of Gorakhpur Mutt, Mahant Advaityanath and was designated as his successor. Yogiji took over as the Head Mahant of the Gorakhpur Mutt in 2014 after his spiritual ‘father’ Mahant Advaityanath breathed his last. Yogiji has been a Member of Parliament from the Gorakhpur Assembly for five consecutive terms since 1998. He had won the hearts of hindu nationalists even before he took over as the Chief Minister of UP for being vocal about the issues plaguing the hindu community and the discrimination they faced in the hands of the previous regime of UP headed by the Samajwadi Party, who were hell bent on appeasing the other communities to garner votes. He even founded a Hindu Yuva Vahini to form an Army of young hindus to work on the ground for protection and rendering help to those amongst the members of the Hindu community.
After Yogiji took over as the Chief Minister, the liberals were in for a rude shock and for them it was a validation of the ‘Radical Hindu Voice’ whom they considered ‘communal and harmful’ because the minority vote bank of their political mouthpieces were shaken and also Yogiji stopped all benefits and rewards to celebrities from the film world and other personalities which the previous Akhilesh Yadav led SP govt used to accord to them, causing them to rant against him. Undeterred Yogiji set upon himself the task of beautifying the overall administrative landscape of UP – a state which is ranked 3rd in terms of GDP (Rs.17.05 trillion in 2020-21) and is ranked 1st in the ‘Commerce and Industry’ sector in the Good Governance Index.
Landmark improvement in Law and Order – Law and Order in UP is one sphere which has always been for the asking.
Days after taking charge as Chief minister, Yogi Adityanath ordered the closure of ‘illegal’ slaughter houses and a blanket ban on smuggling of cows. He directed the state police to form anti-Romeo squads to check eve-teasing in the state, an issue which had plagued UP for decades. The Yogi govt had ordered a stay on Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) results after complaints of massive irregularities.
Fighting the Menace of Love Jehad – The Uttar Pradesh government under Yogiji’s leadership cracked down against ‘Love Jehad’, the term assigned to the act of a man from a Muslim community coaxing a woman from a different community to marry him primarily by hiding his religious identity or otherwise and then committing excesses on that woman, by passing an ordinance against unlawful religious conversion, called the Vidhi Virudh Dharmantaran-2020, which has a provision for 5 to 10 years of imprisonment if a person is convicted.
Disciplining the state government officials – The state government officials were directed against using plastic products and pan masala in office premises. He also urged his ministers to shun siren and hooters as they create noise pollution.
Saviour of the farmers – In a big relief to farmers Yogiji had waived off the Rs 30,729 crore worth loan of small and marginal farmers in the state, shortly after assuming office.
Investment Major – With passing time in office, Yogiji has been widely successful in providing UP with an image makeover. The perception of negativity with regard to UP, the janmabhoomi of Bhagwan Sri Ram and Bhagwan Sri Krishna changed from negativity, disdain and scepticism to that of positivity, respect and conviction.
UP has now become a favourite with the investors with key multinational companies like the South Korean tech giant ready to invest nearly 5000 crores in UP and shift their mobile and IT display production to UP from China. UP attracted an investment of 5000 cr. in the food processing sector. With a whopping Rs. 3 Lakh crore worth of investments in a span of 4.5 years establish UP as an investors’ favourite.
Decriminalizing and Improving the infrastructure in the Education sector – Under ‘Operation Kayakalp’, the UP govt tremendously improved the infrastructure of around a 1000 schools bringing them at par , if not make them better than the private ‘elite’ schools. These schools now have smart classrooms, playgrounds, toilets, drinking water and libraries. Another remarkable achievement of Yogiji has been the decimation of the ‘copying mafia’ during board examinations, something which was prevalent during the previous regime. Examination centres, which were ‘copying hotspots’ have been debarred.
Improving the lot of women – A common perception that always used to go against UP was that of misogyny and extreme ill treatment of women. With acts like outraging the modesty of women, domestic violence and general eve teasing which used to rule the roost, UP was also found lacking in women’s education and empowerment. All that has been left behind now with the UP govt’s ‘Mission Shakti’, a programme aimed at creating awareness about women empowerment in the state, the govt was able to bring a vast majority of women under it’s ambit, create self-help groups amongst them and empower them. Thus the Yogi Adityanath not only sought to protect women by enacting stringent laws and coming down heavily on their aggressors but also substantially empowered them.
Job Creation – The Yogi Adityanath govt has set a record of providing around 4.5 lakh jobs in the public sector, which is higher than all other states. Notably the recruitment process in the state did not stop even during the ongoing pandemic. Around 20 Lakh jobs were provided in the private sector as well, surpassing the performance of the previous two regimes in UP. The state has topped in job creation in the MSME sector too where 90 lakh MSME units have brought in an investment of Rs. 5 lakh crores and provided employment to around 3 crore people.
Improvement in health infrastructure – Yogiji was sharply criticized when 60 children died in Gorakhpur’s BRD hospital in August, 2017 shortly after he assumed office forgetting the fact that he was the only leader from Eastern UP who fought for the eradication of the dreaded disease in Parliament as well as on the streets. However, Yogiji took the said criticism in his stride and went about the task of improving the medical facilities in the state and stressing on the need of overall cleanliness. As a result, Japanese encephalitis cases, which was a menace in UP, have drastically reduced in UP from 655 in 2017 to only 42 in 2019. UP has also tackled the Covid pandemic very successfully reducing the infection rate and vaccinating most of it’s populace in a short span of time, which is a remarkable feat, given it’s huge population.
Never Before Infrastructural feats – In the arena of infrastructural development, UP has had some really astounding achievements to right home about.
The 341 KM long Purvanchal Expressway, completed in a record time of 3 years has been Yogiji’s dream project. The multi facility 6 way expressway boasts, expandable to 8 lanes has 18 flyovers, 7 railway overbridges and 21 underpasses. As per UPIEDA, setting up of 9 toilet blocks and 4 petrol pumps is in progress with 16 ambulances on standby for transporting injured people to nearest hospitals. 21 Industrial points have been earmarked for to accommodate handloom industry, food processing units, storage plants, markets and milk-based industries. Setting up of an Industrial Training Institute, educational and training institutes, medical institutes near the expressway is also on the cards.
The Noida-Agra and Agra-Lucknow expressways have been extended by 340 km to Ghazipur, on the Bihar border, in south-eastern UP. An under-construction link expressway will soon connect Gorakhpur to this spine.
Our country’s largest airport, the NOIDA International Airport or NOIDA International Greenfield Airport or the Jewar Airport is being constructed at Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar, UP, the first phase of which will be completed by September, 2024. The instant airport will ease the air traffic load of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
The Kanpur Metro, inaugurated by our PM Modi was completed in a record span of two years is slated to facilitate traffic flow in the city of Kanpur.
The Sarayu Nahar canal irrigation project was implemented in 4 years which will irrigate 14 lakh hectares of land in 9 districts centring Gorakhpur.
Focus on Sports infrastructure – The Major Dhyanchand Sports University was inaugurated on Sunday by PM Modi. It has been planned with all the modern, state-of-the-art sports infrastructure – including a synthetic hockey ground, football ground, separate grounds for basketball, volleyball, handball, and kabaddi and will provide a big boost to sports in the state as well as the rest of the country.
Handling law breakers with iron fists – Yogiji has taken the law breakers of the state head on and has proved to be their biggest nemesis. UP, which was once the haven for the law breakers have now become their nightmare. Be it dreaded criminals like Vikas Dubey or Mukhtar Ansari, who were accorded VIP treatment by the previous regimes or the rioters, damaging public property in the garb of protests like the anti CAA ones, Yogi Adityanath has accorded them the treatment which befits them. The Yogi Adityanath govt has announced that the land seized from mafia, to the extent of 67000 acres till now, will be distributed to the poor and the homeless. The Yogi govt has proved its unbiased nature and commitment towards fair governance on occasions more than one without any attempt to appease any community over the other, unlike the previous regime. A case in point is the instruction of allowing Namaz without loudspeakers, a decision which was subsequently upheld by the Allahabad High Court.
Yogi Adityanath is famous for his straightforward nature and aggressive nature. He wears his religion in his sleeves not making any attempt to camouflage the same, at the same time not hurting any other religious community. He does not hesitate to crack down on offenders who have been using their specific religion as a shield to wreak havoc on the innocents of the state nor does he think twice before celebrating the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor at Varanasi while promising the people of the state to ‘reclaim’ Mathura.
It is apparent from the above that far from unleashing a reign of terror, Yogiji has, all along worked for the welfare of the people of his state. He might as well be a ‘terror’ for the criminal elements of his state and their apologists, who might be the masterminds behind the instant ‘Caravan’ article but for the people of his state right now, he appears to be the Angel who delivered.
