For at least a few months now, the Yadavs of the Samajwadi Party have dominated prime-time news slots, feeding the fire in this episode of political Bigg Boss.
Amid the surround sound, many political analysts believe that what is being conveniently ignored is the work of Akhilesh Yadav – as a ‘vikas’ minister. They say the 43-year-old is bringing “tangible development” to a state that remains one of the poorest in the country.
The claim is that at a certain level, this Pari-War is the fallout of an attempt by a modern-day politician to bring to the table a new kind of politics to the bastion of old ways – the Lucknow Vidhan Sabha.
But with basic amenities like electricity and water still out of kilter, and issues such as rampant corruption and crimes against women, still lurking over Akhilesh’s sarkar, do these claims hold any substance?
The Quint analyses the best and the worst from his close to five-year tenure to see if Akhilesh is indeed a ‘vikas’ minister.
- Many political analysts believe that Akhilesh Yadav’s work for UP’s ‘vikas’ is being completely ignored
- One of the major infrastructural initiatives of Akhilesh’s government has been the Lucknow-Agra Expressway
- Akhilesh is also pitching the state as a viable destination for private sector to set up shop
- All this talk of development, however, cannot hide the cracks that run deep in the state’s law and administration system
Charting New Roads for the Vikas Rath to Roll On
Uttar Pradesh – India’s fourth largest state – suffers from a chronic shortage of basic infrastructure like highways and expressways. Akhilesh has sought to remedy that.
One of the major infrastructural initiatives has been the Lucknow-Agra expressway.
The 302 km access-controlled expressway – the longest in the country – built in 22 months at the cost of Rs 13,200 crore to the state exchequer will have six lanes that can be expanded to eight later on. It will also have a 3 km lane that can be used by the Indian Air Force in the case of emergency.
Besides this, Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway between Ballia and Lucknow is under construction, and will be built at an estimated cost of around Rs 18,000 crore to UP treasury.
Upon completion of the project, UP will have expressway connectivity across the entire state.
Additionally, a Rs 1,500-crore expressway project between Kanpur and Lucknow will also see the light of day soon, along with others using central funds to the tune of a cool Rs 2,60,000 lakh in the next few years.
These projects are expected to provide the state with thousands of jobs, helping curb large-scale unemployment.
Bringing the Metro to the Soon-To-Be Metro Cities
The Yadav scion has also set his sights on improving intra-city commutes in the choked cities across the state. Lucknow will see the first phase of the metro become operational before the next assembly elections in 2017.
Earlier this month, Akhilesh laid the foundation stone of the ambitious Rs 13,721-crore Kanpur metro project, too. Apart from that, Varanasi, Agra and Meerut have been pencilled in for metro projects.
A New 100-Acre IT Hub
The Akhilesh sarkar, in its effort to boost jobs and development, is aggressively pitching UP as a viable destination for private sector to set up shop.
HCL is currently developing an IT Hub in Lucknow that will span 100 acres at an investment of about Rs 1,500 crore. The project, which has been granted Special Economic Zone status, will begin operations before the end of the year.
In addition, investment deals valued at Rs 5,000 crore with Samsung, Spice Mobiles and Lava have been signed to set up mobile manufacturing units in the state.
Big-Ticket Projects or a Smokescreen?
However, all this talk of development and rapidly improving infrastructure cannot hide the ugly cracks that run deep in UP’s law and administration system.
The Ghosts of Muzaffarnagar, Dadri
Crores have been spent by the Akhilesh sarkar to give it a major image makeover. Much effort has been expended by Akhilesh’s PR team to project him as a man of development, but the ghosts of Muzaffarnagar and Dadri continue to haunt him.
Barely a year into his tenure, the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots remain one of the darkest hours in UP’s socio-political history.
The bloodshed and the pure madness in the name of religion that displaced over 55,000 people – all with an alleged helping hand from the ruling government – remains a blot on the Yadav scion’s portfolio.
The heart-wrenching public killing of Mohammad Akhlaq and the subsequent political circus that Akhilesh took part in raise serious questions.
Gunda Raj: The Problem of Lawlessness
UP suffers from a crippling law and order system that has only suffered more under the SP rule.
An increasing number of crimes against women, highlighted only by incidents such as the brutal murder and rape of teenage sisters from Badaun, and stories of lawlessness and murders from the badlands of UP add to questions raised about the CM.
Then, there’s the party’s open backing of the corrupt – and its ties with the land mafia.
Of Farmers and Water Woes
Is Akhilesh ignoring agriculture by focusing too much on improving industrial growth?
The euphoria of the big-ticket projects has been dampened by the realisation that the majority of the state’s population – which relies on agriculture for economic sustenance – has largely been left to fend for themselves as a result of lack of policies for the sector.
The ground reality is that from the drought-hit farmers of Bundelkhand to the sugarcane harvesters of western UP, Akhilesh sarkar cuts an unloved figure amongst farmers across the state.
Critics allege the government’s failure to handle the Bundelkhand situation, or its recent decision to waive off interests to be paid by sugar mill owners on delayed payment to farmers for the 2014-15 season, are merely symptoms of the larger malaise – the ‘vikas’ minister’s severe apathy for the situation of farmers.
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