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Ajay Uprety
Ajay Uprety

Political celebrations

Along with Kumbh plans, Yogi eyes political windfall from UP Diwas

adityanath-vekaiah-ram-naik-twitter Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Governor Ram Naik and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu launching celebrations of UP Diwas | Yogi Adityanath's Twitter account

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been leaving no opportunity to ‘showcase’ the achievements of his government. His government has been even utilising events and festivals to convey the message to the people of the state that ‘his government’ has been doing more qualitative work than his predecessors.

The Adityanath government is already making efforts to celebrate the next Kumbh Mela on a grand scale, the aim behind it being to hone its Hindutva agenda as the Kumbh is strongly associated with Hindus’ religious beliefs.

Now, the government is observing ‘UP Diwas’ at a grand scale in Lucknow to tell people that it is the Adityanath government that takes pride in history and other achievements of Uttar Pradesh.

The chief minister has an eye on the coming 2019 Lok Sabha polls too. Through UP Diwas, Adityanath and his ministers will tell the electorate of the state about the achievements of the Central and state governments.

After 67 years of the formation of the state, UP Diwas (the day the state came into existence) is being observed officially by any government for the first time.

When Ram Naik became governor of the state, he wanted to showcase the achievements of Uttar Pradesh through these occasions, but the then Samajwadi Party government did not listen to him and refused to celebrate events like UP Diwas. Naik, in his capacity as governor, had even written a letter to then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in this regard.

But now, the Adityanath government has decided to lap up this opportunity to add one more feather to its cap.

Earlier, UP used to be known as United Provinces and on January 24, 1950, its name was changed to Uttar Pradesh. UP Diwas will be celebrated for three days, commencing Wednesday.

On this occasion, the chief minister will inaugurate various public welfare schemes worth Rs 25,000 crore. To make it a high-profile affair, the government has invited Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. Many important political dignitaries are expected to take part in this three–day affair.

In addition to the commemoration, the Adityanath government will utilise this chance as a political tool.

Functions pertaining to UP Diwas will be held in the entire state and various state ministers have been asked to camp in their respective districts to make the programme successful. Various cultural events will also take place during the celebration.

Hailing the celebrations, Sandeep Mathur, a local businessman, said, “This government has been doing some new things and UP Diwas is one of them. Every government boasts about its achievements through various means and if the Yogi government does it through UP Diwas, then what is the harm?”

Another state resident, Sharad Mehrotra said, “Through such events, at least people of the state will know about milestones which the state has achieved so far.”

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