In Jewar, Yogi seeks votes for development, better policing

Bringing the curtains down on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s campaign for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday addressed a rally in Jewar and said an international airport there will boost growth in all of western Uttar Pradesh.

Districts of western Uttar Pradesh will vote on February 10, under phase one of the seven phased assembly elections. Campaigning in these districts ended on Tuesday evening.

“I want to assure you that Jewar airport will change the fate of western UP. Take this pledge that you will make (incumbent MLA and BJP candidate) Dhirendra Singh an MLA from Jewar on February 10,” he told the gathering.

The battle for the constituency of Jewar has garnered much interest as the Noida international airport is coming up in Jewar and the project is crucial in deciding the future development of the region.

Adityanath also claimed that it was his government which made women feel safe in the state.

“Tell me, was any daughter safe before 2017 (the last assembly election which the BJP won)? But after 2017, all daughters are safe. Before 2017, there was turmoil in our society due to concerns over safety of daughters. Today, there is no law and order issue,” the chief minister said.

He also spoke of “ the unprecedented development” during his tenure and enumerated the projects that are coming up in the region.

“We are setting up north India’s first Film City in Jewar at a cost of ₹10,000 crore, to provide the youth with an opportunity to become actors or start a career in movies. Our government is working on several projects, including an international medical devices park, to create jobs and business opportunities in the region. Be it issues of the youth, the poor or schemes for the downtrodden, the BJP government has worked for all,” said Adityanath.

He also spoke of his government working to vaccinate the public through the pandemic, and said about 150 million people have been vaccinated so far. In a veiled attack on his opponent, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, he added, “The ones who objected to the vaccine initially are taking it now.”

Continuing his jibes, he said, “Earlier the (SP) government used to make tamancha (pistols/arms), but we are making defence corridors to take the state on the path to development.”

Reacting to the chief minister’s comments, SP spokesperson for Gautam Budh Nagar Raghwendra Dube said, “The BJP is losing this election because they failed to work for the people in the past five years. Now they are making false allegations against our party, because they have nothing to tell people as to what they have done for the state. In five years, they could not build even one runway and worked only to destroy the economy, thereby causing people to lose jobs. People will reply to their lies on February 10.”

Samajwadi Party and its alliance partner Rashtriya Lok Dal has fielded Avatar Singh Bhadana from Jewar. Bhadana was a BJP MLA from Meerapur constituency in Muzaffarnagar district and switched sides just before the UP polls, setting the stage for an interesting battle in this high profile seat of Jewar.

Bahujan Samaj party has given a ticket to former journalist Narendra Bhati Dedha while Congress has fielded Manoj Chaudhary from Jewar; both candidates are contesting the seat for the first time.