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Modi opens eastern UP gateway in poll take-off
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated a six-lane expressway meant to ease transport and unlock investment in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and accused previous state governments of neglecting the region, in a major development push months before a high-stakes assembly election
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated a six-lane expressway meant to ease transport and unlock investment in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and accused previous state governments of neglecting the region, in a major development push months before a high-stakes assembly election.
Modi landed in a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft on a 3.2km stretch of the 341km Purvanchal Expressway developed as an emergency airstrip for the Indian Air Force. He also saw an air show with French-made Mirage jets and Russian Su-30MKIs using the road as a runway.
“The previous governments reduced the vital eastern part of the state to ‘mafiawaad’ and poverty, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is now writing a new chapter of development,” he said. Eastern UP holds 160 of the state’s 403 assembly seats that go to the polls early next year.
The PM was speaking in Sultanpur after inaugurating the expressway that connects state capital Lucknow to Ghazpur in the relatively underdeveloped eastern UP, and cuts down travel time to 3.5 hours from 6 hours. The ₹22,500 crore project has stirred a political row with the previous Samajwadi Party government claiming credit for green-lighting the highway.
Modi’s event also highlighted the country’s dual-use expressways that double up as emergency military airstrips as India looks to boost its military preparedness.
“India’s prosperity is as important as our national security. This expressway has become a new strength for our air force,” Modi said.“The emergency landing facility for aircraft on the expressway is a symbol of strength for the Indian Air Force. It’s a message to those who neglected defence infrastructure of the country,” he added.
The expressway begins at Chaudsarai village on the outskirts of Lucknow and ends in Hydaria village on National Highway 31, just 18 km from the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border. After the address, Modi, Uttar Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel and chief minister Yogi Adityanath were among those who watched the air show.
A Mirage-2000 was the first to land. Commandos emerged later from the belly of an An-32 aircraft. Another Mirage, two Jaguars and an Su-30MKI performed touch-and-go manoeuvres on the air strip.
The aircraft also flew in formation and ended the show with a flypast. An announcer identified one of the Sukhoi pilots as a local man from Sultanpur.
Terming the Purvanchal expressway as a symbol of new UP and its progress, Modi said it will bridge the gap between western and eastern UP. The PM invoked Hindu god Hanuman and lauded the contribution of the people of the district in the freedom struggle.
“I bow to the people of the land on which Lord Hanuman killed Kalanemi. In the 1857 struggle, the people of the area fought the British. The land carries the fragrance of the Independence struggle. And today, the holy land is getting the gift of Purvanchal Expressway,” he said.
Development was limited to places where the previous chief ministers had their homes or families, the PM said, without naming opposition parties.
“The government, which was in power in UP before the BJP government, did not assist me. The then CM did not share dais with me fearing that his vote bank will get angry (reference to Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party). The governments before the Yogi government were unfair to people, neglected development of the state and focused on the well being of their family. The people of UP removed them from power. They gave a big mandate to Yogi and Modi in 2017 and 2019 to serve them,” he said.
“In UP, we have seen a long period of governments who showed dreams of industrialisation without worrying about connectivity. As a result, many factories located here were shut due to lack of infrastructure. It was also unfortunate that both Delhi and Lucknow were dominated by the dynasts. For years, this partnership of family members kept crushing the aspirations of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
Modi emphasised that the BJP’s “double engine government” was working for the welfare of people and development of the state. “Along with running old industries, it is creating an environment for new investments,” he said.
“When I laid the foundation stone of the Purvanchal Expressway three years back, I had never thought that I will land here on an aircraft one day,” added the PM.
Modi said the BJP government was changing the destiny of the state. “Who can forget regular power cuts earlier, deterioration in law and order, lack of medical facilities and loot incidents. Now, those who committed loot are in jail and new roads are being constructed across the state,” he added.
“In the last seven years, villages in eastern and western UP have been connected with roads. The dream of UP’s development is being fulfilled. New medical colleges, modern educational institutions and airports have also been constructed,” he said.
The PM said the Yogi government was working with the ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ (inclusive development for all) mantra without any discrimination. “The industrial corridor is being developed along the expressway and 21 spots have been selected for the purpose,” he said.
Lauding the state’s vaccination drive, Modi said UP had become a leading state in administering jabs. “People ignored political misinformation and conspiracy over the Covid vaccine manufactured in the country. My government is working hard for the development of UP. Women have benefitted most under the BJP government – they have got pucca houses, power supply, cooking gas, toilets, piped drinking water supply, better health facilities under Ayushman Bharat scheme,” emphasised the PM.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the project was conceived when he was chief minister in 2016. “How will BJP be able to wipe out from the pages of history that the foundation for the expressway was laid in December 2016,” he said.
“There is a tussle to take credit for the work of SP,” he later tweeted in Hindi.
“During the lockdown, when lakhs of laborers were returning from Delhi to their villages in UP on foot, the BJP government did not provide buses to the workers. But, the government is spending crores of public’s hard earned money to bring crowd in the rallies of PM and Home Minister,” Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted.
