As BJP on Thursday showcased development plank by laying the foundation stone for the Noida International Airport with job creation, polarisation politics also played in the background with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath drawing the analogy of ‘sweetness of sugarcane’ versus ‘mischief of followers of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah’.
Yogi took a dig at the Samajwadi Party, whose leader Akhilesh Yadav had some time back hailed the contribution of Jinnah along with Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel in the nation’s freedom struggle.
“Some people had tried to add bitterness in the sugarcane region of Uttar Pradesh with a series of riots. Now the country has to decide if the sweetness of sugarcane will grow or Jinnah's followers will cause mischief," the UP Chief Minister said addressing the event in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hailed the upcoming venture as “logistics gateway for North India”.
While the Chief Minister claimed that public welfare schemes reached everyone “without any discrimination” and the “whole perception of Uttar Pradesh has changed”, both the BSP and SP which have ruled the state before the BJP came to power in 2017 sought to debunk the Chief Minister’s claims.
Akhilesh Yadav of SP alluded to the Centre’s recent decisions on the divestment of airports and said, “The foundation stone will be laid today, tomorrow there will be an attempt to sell the same.”
Taking a jibe, he said on Twitter “Had the BJP government not refused to his government’s proposal to build an airport in Firozabad, Jewar would have joined the bangles (Jewar jewellery ke saath churion (bangles) ko bhi judne ka mauka milta,” he said in Hindi. Firozbad is famous for bangles.
Countering Modi’s pitch that Uttar Pradesh was kept in “deprivation and darkness earlier”, Mayawati said, “it is natural to doubt the intention and policy of the government when its foundation is laid at the time of elections” and reminded how “BSP government had given a new dimension to employment and development in Uttar Pradesh through projects like Taj International Airport and aviation hub in Jewar area of Gautam Budh Nagar and 8-lane Ganga Expressway from Noida to Ballia.”
Watch the latest DH Videos here: