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Jewar airport project: Parties vie to take credit
A similar scramble for credit was witnessed during the inauguration of the Purvanchal Expressway project on November 16
Multiple political parties have claimed credit for the Noida International Airport project, whose foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Jewar in Greater Noida on Thursday.
A similar scramble for credit was witnessed during the inauguration of the Purvanchal Expressway project on November 16. Between them, the two projects are expected to impact politics and commerce in these two crucial regions in a big way, experts said.
“The Purvanchal Greenfield Expressway would not only connect eastern UP to the state capital Lucknow but also beyond to the National Capital through the Agra-Lucknow and the Yamuna Expressways. The Jewar airport would provide better access to Noida, Greater Noida residents and an alternative to those from New Delhi and Gurgaon. Purvanchal Expressway would pass through Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Mau, Ghazipur and Azamgarh while the Jewar airport would also benefit residents of Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Agra among others. They are expected to usher in prosperity in east and west UP, the reason why there is an urgency among political parties to claim credit,” said Professor Manuka Khanna of the political science department of Lucknow University (LU).
“At the end of the day, the common man wants a party that holds out hope for him. Why would anyone want to miss out in reminding voters that they are the ones behind the development hope,” she said.
In his speech, Modi blamed the previous governments in power in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for delaying the Jewar project and credited a BJP government in the state with originally conceiving it two decades back even as two former UP chief ministers, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati sought to position themselves as the ones to have envisaged those projects.
While Akhilesh hit out at the BJP, Maya questioned the Congress for derailing projects conceived by them in Jewar.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath sought to dub the opposition parties wanting credit for development projects as “kam aql (dim witted)”. UP minister Sidharth Nath Singh coined the term “credit chor (credit thieves)” to target the opposition.
“The Jewar International Airport that was first talked about in 2001 and whose foundation stone is now laid, shuttled between multiple governments from Lucknow to Delhi for two decades. These game changer projects impact a huge population and, therefore, there is this eagerness to claim credit,” Khanna said.
“The Congress played spoilsport in the BSP government’s development plans in Jewar by coming up with a Taj International Airport and aviation hub and a Ganga Expressway project connecting Noida to Ballia,” Mayawati tweeted soon after the foundation stone of the Jewar airport was laid by Modi.
Mayawati also claimed that the Jewar airport project conceived by her government had been much delayed and questioned the timing of the foundation stone laying ceremony just ahead of the elections. She also questioned the land acquisition policy for the Jewar project.
Akhilesh Yadav claimed that he had, along with Jewar, another airport in mind in Firozabad, famous for its glass works and bangles.
“Had that permission not been denied, churis (bangles) too would have complemented Jewar. Only the SP would decorate UP,” tweeted Yadav who has been repeatedly accusing the BJP of hijacking development projects initiated during his time from 2012 to 2017.
UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh advised Akhilesh Yadav that after 2024, he can use the Jewar airport built by BJP to fly out on a vacation.
