UP govt’s shift to image-building to position Yogi who delivers on development & faith

The 10 focus areas on which the government claims to be working on with short-and long-term goals are law and order, agriculture production, social security, infrastructure and industry, urban development, rural development, medical and health, education, tourism and culture besides revenue collection. Separate incharge officers were appointed for each of these sectors for monitoring the goals and targets.

Also, there are plans to project Adityanath as the longest serving CM of the state. It was no coincidence when the state government recently decided to open tourism information centres in prominent cities of the country to disseminate details about places of significance in Uttar Pradesh.
There were instances that show that Adityanath’s image having been developed as the “demolition man” or “bulldozer baba”, attempts were made to project him as someone who could deliver on the development front but with due emphasis on ‘astha ka samman’.

When the ruling BJP is gearing up to highlight the construction of the Ram Temple ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the state government will focus on projecting “development of Ayodhya” as a “model town” for pilgrims.

Thus, it is not surprising when Adityanath is personally taking review of development works at
Ayodhya regularly from Lucknow as well as by visiting Ayodhya. Right from making it a model solar city to the widening of roads, amenities such as a bus station and airports are in the pipeline for the city.

The government has already started making preparations for the 2025 Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj while the Naimisaranya temple in Sitapur and the Braj region in west Vindya and Chitrakoot Dham are next on the agenda.

Moreover, the government’s claims of transforming Uttar Pradesh into “Uttam Pradesh” during the first tenure have now shifted to make the state “Nivesh Pradesh”. The government, which claimed to have received Rs 35 lakh crore as investment proposals during the the Global Investors Summit, says it was able to bring significant investment opportunities beyond NCR.

In the meantime, the government has now shifted its focus from merely organising big “groundbreaking ceremonies” in the next few months to turning select investment proposals to reality. Also, it has started work on preparing for another grand event this year — five-day UP International Trade Fair in September.

Interestingly, the Yogi-led government’s second tenure had its own set of controversies with some of its ministers and bureaucrats locking horns. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak went to the extent of coming out in the open criticising the head of the Department of Medical and Health alleging discrepancies in the process of transfers.

Though the issue was resolved in no time, many within the party still have a feeling that bureaucrats have precedence in the functioning of the government and even decision-making.
Since there was a strong sense of anger and resentment among people before the Assembly elections over the issue of unemployment, the government this time is focusing on the youth.
Apart from making attempts to develop local tourism centres to generate employment and give boost to the local economy, the government is making attempts to encourage a large population of “youngsters” towards sports and skill development. The government is also focusing on opening gyms at the village level, providing incentive to sportspersons and also provide them assistance to enhance their skills.

On the law and order front, the state government claims to have booked 63,055 criminals under the Gangster Act, and 836 under the National Security Act (NSA). Officials said properties worth about Rs 9022 crore were seized under the Gangster Act alone.
In the past six years, the government has also taken credit for adopting police commissionerate system to seven cities, including Gutam Budh Nagar, Lucknow, Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ghaziabad.

Infrastructure development is another sector where the government claims to have done well in the last six years, especially concerning the construction of expressways.

Now, the government is preparing to develop industrial townships along the expressways, including already constructed Purvanchal and Bundelkhand Expressways, and under-construction Gorakhpur link or Ballia Link expressways.

Besides the development of medical colleges in every district of the state, the government is also focusing on the development of airports with an aim to build 21 airports, including five international airports.