Agenda a blend of faith & development: Yogi to complete 7 years as UP CM

Interestingly, across the two summits in a span of 5 years, renewable energy continued to dominate investment plans in 2017 as well as in 2023. However, along with investment, another key focus of the government remained on giving a boost to the economy through “religious tourism”, which started with the Vishwanath Corridor in the first term to infusing funds for development of Ayodhya before the Ram Temple consecration over the past two years.

Apart from the state budget increasing more than double in size in seven years i.e. around Rs 3.84 lakh crore in 2017-18 to 7.36 lakh in 2024-25, a visible change that the state witnessed was criss-crossing expressways, completing connect of the National Capital with the eastern end of the state.

While, Uttar Pradesh got one expressway each during tenure of the erstwhile BSP government from 2007-2012 i.e. Yamuna Expressway and another expressway i.e. Lucknow-Agra expressway during the Samajwadi Party (SP) rule from 2012 to 2017. While existing expressways connected Delhi to first Agra and then to Lucknow, in the past seven years, Uttar Pradesh witnessed completion of two more expressways connecting Delhi and Lucknow to the eastern end of the state as well as Bundelkhand.

In November 2021, i.e. just before 2022 Assembly polls in the state, the 340 km Purvanchal Expressway construction worth around Rs 23,000 crore was completed, connecting Lucknow to Ghazipur in the east, whereas by July 2022, the 296 km Bundelkhand Expressway, worth around Rs 14,000 crore, was inaugurated.

At present, work is in progress for one of the longest expressways i.e. 593 km Ganga Expressway, with a target to complete it before the 2025 Mahakumbh, while work on another 91 km Gorakhpur Link Expressway is nearing completion.

The state also got two international airports in the past seven years – the Kushinagar International Airport became functional in 2021, while the international airport in Ayodhya became functional earlier this year, before the Ram Temple consecration.

The government also focused on religious tourism and development of places of religious significance with an aim to give a fillip to the economy.

Uttar Pradesh witnessed the development of the much talked about Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in the first term of the Yogi Adityanath-led government, with the state claiming a significant rise in the footfall of pilgrims after the corridor was built.

In the second term, after 2022, funds were infused in Ayodhya for not just basic amenities or widening of roads but also on the beautification of the town.

The government claimed to have brought in projects worth Rs 30,000 crore in Ayodhya this year with Chief Minister recently claiming that the town has witnessed footfall of over 1 crore pilgrims since the Ram Temple consecration in January this year.

In seven years under this government, the state also saw the formation of seven pilgrimage centric development boards with the Chief Minister as its chairperson and the authority to get government grants as well as loans for development of the area under them. Of these, three boards were formed during the first term of the government i.e. Braj Teerth Vikas Parishad, Vindhyachal Dham as well as Chitrakoot Dham Teerth Vikas Parishad.

The remaining four boards were formed in the past two years, i.e. Shukarteerth Teerth Vikas in Muzaffarnagar, Devipatan Dham in the Terai belt, Naimisharanya in Sitapur and Ayodhya Teerth Vikas Parishad.

The government also promoted prominent religious melas and “Mahotsava”, including the recently held “Ramotsava” in Ayodhya or Krishna and Brijraj Mahotsava in Mathura. While Dev Deepawali was organised in Varanasi, in the past seven years, the concept of Deepotsav started in Ayodhya, with the government claiming new records of lighting diyas each year.

In the past seven years, the BJP government also invested a significant amount on shelter of cattle as the state continued to tackkle the stray cattle menace

Significant legislations

Some of the significant legislations in the past seven years included the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damage to Public and Private Property Act in 2020, which came into force after anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh along with other states.

The law brought in provisions to recover damage to public and private property following any violent protests and demonstrations in the state. Later, other state also adopted the law.

Another much talked about Legislation was “The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Relgious conversion”, which first came as ordinance in 2020 and later as a Bill in the state Assembly in 2021. The law prohibited conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion, allurement or marriage, with aim to keep a check on “interfaith marriages with the sole intention of changing a girl’s religion”.

The law criminalised conversions in violation of the provisions of the law attracting a jail term of up to 10 years.

Uttar Pradesh was the first state to bring such a law.

It is also to be noted that while Uttar Pradesh government took no time to waive farmers’ loans soon after it came to power for the first time in 2017, keeping its poll promise, in the second term, it took almost two years for the Government to give go-ahead to waiver of electricity bills of farmers for tubewells, as promised ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls.

However, like in its first term, when the government promised to waive Rs 36,000 crore of farmers, a populist decision taken by the government in 2022 was to continue with the “free ration” scheme.

In recent months, following frequent complaints about accelerator and lift-related accidents, the government also brought the Uttar Pradesh Lift and Accelerator Bill, 2023, making security and rescue provisions mandatory.