Campaign blitz in Uttar Pradesh precedes curbs
State sees series of ModiYogi events. Akhilesh Yadav, too, has been on campaign trail since October before putting his January 9 Ayodhya yatras on hold
LUCKNOW: The announcement of the Uttar Pradesh assembly poll schedule and model code of conduct on Saturday was preceded by a campaign blitzkrieg by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the state over the last few months. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, too, has been on campaign trail since October.
Even before EC announced a ban on road shows and physical rallies until January 15 in keeping with strict Covid-19 protocols, Akhilesh had put his proposed rath yatras from Ayodhya that was scheduled for January 9, on hold.
During the campaign blitz by the BJP leaders, big-ticket projects were launched in UP, including Kushinagar and Noida international airports, Purvanchal and Ganga Expressways, Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, Saryu Nahar project, Gorakhpur fertilizer factory and Meerut’s sports university.
From connecting with farmers to unveiling fleet of electric buses for several cities or inaugurating the metro rail project in Kanpur, Modi was virtually everywhere, travelling to UP frequently to seek “aashirwad (blessings)” of the masses for a second consecutive BJP government in the state. He also connected virtually (through video conference) with beneficiaries of various government schemes in UP.
Besides development, he set the political discourse in UP, describing Yogi as “UPYOGI (useful)” and terming the red cap wearing Samajwadi Party (SP) as “red alert”. The Samajwadi Party (SP) is widely seen as the main challenger to the BJP.
As experts pointed out, there is good reason for the BJP’s reliance on Modi.
“The BJP in UP can be divided into two phases. Pre-Modi and post-Modi. So, in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP got 17.5 per cent and 22.17 per cent votes. In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party’s vote share went up drastically, 42.63 per cent in 2014 and 49.98 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2012 UP polls, the BJP had a vote share of about 15 per cent and in 2017, this vote share went up to 39.67 per cent. That’s the kind of impact he has had on the party’s electoral fortunes and it is only natural that his party is relying a lot on him in these elections too. That explains the frequent PM visits in the run-up to the polls,” said professor Manuka Khanna of the political science department of Lucknow University (LU).
The BJP, which had launched six Jan Vishwas Yatras in UP from December 19, had planned a formal conclusion of these yatras with a mega rally by PM Modi in Lucknow on January 9. An estimated 10 lakh people were expected in Lucknow.
“That rally, as it is clear already, isn’t happening now. So we will fall back on virtual rallies and door-to-door connect campaigns, but we will have Modi and Yogi Adityanath’s messages delivered to the people both virtually and through door-to-door format. We are working out newer campaign formats as directed by the election commission,” a party leader said.
Modi, who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Varanasi in eastern UP and on whose charisma the BJP is betting on yet again, had started arriving in UP since October 20 when he inaugurated the Kushinagar international airport. He inaugurated the 341kilometre Purvanchal Expressway on November 16.
On December 7, Modi inaugurated a fertilizer factory, AIIMS and a lab in Gorakhpur. On
December 13, he dedicated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi. On December 18, he was back laying the foundation stone of 594 km-long Ganga Expressway at Shahjahanpur which would be the biggest in of India. On December 21, Modi addressed a rally with an allwomen audience in Prayagraj, whose blessings he sought to win the elections. On January 2, he laid the foundation stone of a sports university in Meerut. Thus, he covered all the regions across the state.
Nearly all the projects that Modi and Yogi inaugurated or laid the foundation stone of have wider connect across several districts.
Take the inauguration of the Rs 9800 crore Saryu Nahar project on December 11. The Nahar project is expected to help farmers and people in at least 6200 villages across nine districts —Bahraich, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj, all east UP districts. Here, Modi had reminded the people how anyone who quenches someone’s thirst is remembered before cleverly urging the masses to “bless” the BJP.
“We never forget anyone who offers water to quench people’s thirst and I am sure that now that your parched fields would get water, your blessings would help us work with greater enthusiasm,” he had said then.
As for the Ganga Expressway, it would pass through Meerut, Hapur, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Prayagraj, connecting 519 villages and will cut down travel time. It was during this launch that he coined the phrase ‘UPYOGI (useful)’ for chief minister Yogi Adityanath while slamming the opposition for neglect of both ‘vikas and sanskritik virasat (development and cultural heritage), a line that all BJP leaders have been taking since.
“Virtually all the projects that Modi inaugurated or laid the foundation stone have the capacity to influence people’s lives in a big way,” said Irshad Ilmi, a political observer.
Adityanath was active too, packing several poll meetings besides attending to his work as chief minister till late in the night.
“We wouldn’t know when he would sleep because irrespective of how late he went to bed, he was up and about early morning. His energy is boundless,” a UP minister said about Adityanath’s packed schedule. From attending party meetings, accompanying top leaders, addressing party campaigns, Yogi Adityanath has been fuelling the party campaign.
With Modi in the lead, other top party leaders and Union ministers followed.
For his part, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had hit the campaign trail on October 13 when he launched Vijay Rath Yatra on a Benz bus coverted into a rath from Kanpur. Ahead of the yatra, the SP released a video in which Akhilesh was seen touching the feet of his father and party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Subsequently, Akhilesh’s rath yatra drew crowds at various places across the state.