With the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 10, chief minister Yogi Adityanath is attempting to pitch the state as a business-friendly destination and cement his position as a growth-oriented leader.
From taking the oath of CM’s office in 2017 to his second innings with a landslide win in 2022 to still being the head priest of the famous Gorakshnath Temple in Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath is moving cautiously to establish himself a ‘Vikas Purush’, along with being a Hindutva icon.
THE SEER NAVIGATES ROUGH WATERS
After settling in in the Chief Minister’s chair, Yogi Adityanath never looked back. In the initial days of his office in 2017, he remained unfazed of the turbulence that was steered with his elevation. The first big crackdown was on illegal slaughter houses and a check on cow smuggling. Glimpses of his iron grip on police and administration was beginning to take shape. Even as he championed his Hindutva image, the economy too was picking up on his agenda.
The second year in his office saw Yogi Adityanath moving forward with first-of-its-kind investors’ summit in Uttar Pradesh. Attempts to change the state’s perception from being backward to a developing one were being made.
The investor summit in its first avatar in 2018 saw a modest beginning with investment proposals worth Rs 4.75 lakh crore.
The CM in his interview to Network 18’s group editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi this month said 75% to 80% of the MoUs signed have been successfully implemented upon, thus, creating 5 lakh new job opportunities in the state.
As Yogi Adityanath struggled to address the economy, law and order, security and safety of investments in the state remained a major challenge. He moved ahead to have an iron hand on administration and gave the Police a free hand in chasing the criminals. The encounter spree thus started seeing a lot of criticism but the CM remained unfazed.
Tough handling of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2019 and his legal moves against alleged menace of “religious conversion” and “love jihad” further established Yogi Adityanath’s position as a tough administrator who was also deeply committed to his political ideology.
Yogi Adityanath’s handling of the Covid crisis was praised in 2020 but was drastically hit by a large number of deaths in the second wave. The desperation was so acute that by May 2021, rumours about his political future had started doing the rounds. With BJP’s top brass including PM Modi and home minister Amit Shah endorsing him, the party went into the 2022 state assembly elections projecting Yogi as the CM face.
YOGI 2.0 — TIME TO THINK BIG AND ACT BIG
As Yogi Adityanath assumed the CM’s office for the second time in March 2022, it was also an endorsement for “Yogi Style of politics” in the state. Having weathered all storms, it was time to “think big and deliver big” for the UP Chief Minister. Plans for the state’s first global investor summit was worked upon.
Going back to his vision of making Uttar Pradesh a $1 trillion economy by 2027, the chief minister instructed his team to make the global summit a “huge success”.
Driven by the rapid improvement in road connectivity, construction of new expressways and airports, improved law and order situation, vast availability of land bank and reforms at the policy levels were seen as a strong foundation for giving wings to UP’s development aspirations.
In a bid to draw in international investments, teams under different ministers were sent to countries such as the USA, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Australia, Japan and Singapore. Road shows and meetings were also held across major cities of India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad.
Sharing the details of his ambitious initiative, few days before the investor summit, Yogi Adityanath had told Network 18’s group editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi about how the summit is likely to see investment MoUs of around 23 lakh crore, which in time to come will create possibilities of lakhs of new jobs and business opportunities in the state.
A week later, when the UP Global investors summit was officially inaugurated on February 10 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the actual MoUs (32 lakh 93 crore) surpassed the Chief Minister’s expectations.
Yogi Adityanath said, “UP global investor summit is a big step forward towards making the state a one-trillion-dollar economy”.
What Yogi Adityanath has also tried to ensure is the idea of holistic approach towards the development. It is no longer a case of investments just in a particular region. Even the economically backward regions like eastern UP and Bundelkhand have seen encouraging investment proposals.
According to the government data, West UP comprising of Noida region has received investment proposals worth Rs 14.81 lakh crore, which amount to around 45% of total proposals. Purvanchal or east UP has received investment proposals of more than Rs 9.50 lakh crore or 29% of the total while 13% of total investment, amounting to around 4.27 lakh crore, are for districts in Bundelkhand region. Almost the same figure of Rs 4.28 lakh crore is for central Uttar Pradesh.
It was probably this success of the investors’ summit that saw PM Modi making a clarion call to around 10,000 national and international delegates to become part of the Uttar Pradesh’ growth story. “If India is today a bright spot for the world, then Uttar Pradesh is playing a major role in it,” PM Modi had said.
‘ASTHA’ AND ‘VIKAS’ — BRAND YOGI BUILDS ON BOTH
As the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit becomes a big moment in Yogi Adityanath’s profile as the chief minister, it has strongly bolstered his image as a politician committed to development agenda with a friendly approach towards big businesses and industries.
With the grand opening of Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya next year, it is the ‘VikasGatha’ (development story) of Uttar Pradesh that is being talked about. In the build-up to Ram Temple’s unveiling, it will both be the ‘Vikas’ and ‘Asthsa’ narrative.
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