Will Akhilesh Yadav dare to break the 'Noida jinx'?
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will once again have a chance to break the three-decade "Noida jinx" in the forthcoming assembly election. But the big question is, will he risk the CM chair if he goes through with his plan to visit the city in the first week of December?
The young CM, who rode to power projecting himself as a tech-savvy environmental engineer, gave into superstition and has so far avoided visiting Noida in his five-year tenure.
Rather than set foot in the state’s economic hub, Akhilesh has preferred to inaugurate various projects through video conferences.
But now, according to a senior administration official, the CM would in all likelihood bring his "Vikas Rath Yatra" to Noida and preparations are under way to host the event at a stadium there. Akhilesh will inaugurate some infrastructure projects and share his vision of development for the region during his public address. Meanwhile, district magistrate NP Singh has also met police and Noida Authority officials to discuss the December visit.
There is a belief in UP that a CM who visits Noida loses his chair shortly afterwards.
Akhilesh has till now taken the Noida jinx story seriously. He has assiduously avoided visiting the city even when his presence was required. He inaugurated the Yamuna Expressway by pushing the button from Lucknow. He inaugurated Greater Noida development projects and laid the foundation stone of a university through remote control from Lucknow. He even inaugurated Nasscom’s Noida headquarters sitting in a hotel in Delhi.
Battling the curse
August 2012: Akhilesh inaugurated the Yamuna Expressway from Lucknow and avoided travelling to Noida.
April 2, 2013: Akhilesh keeps away from inaugurating infrastructure projects in Gautam Budh Nagar, for fear of the jinx.
April 23, 2015: Four months after allotting land for Bennett University in Greater Noida, Akhilesh along with BCCL MD Vineet Jain laid the foundation stone of the university at a programme organised in Lucknow.
October 4, 2015: Akhilesh flies Dadri lynching victim Mohd Akhlaq's kin to Lucknow for a meeting, offers them Rs 45 lakh.
December 30, 2015: The jinx keeps Akhilesh away from PM Narendra Modi’s event to lay the foundation stone of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway. Panchayati Raj minister Kailash Yadav was nominated to represent the CM in Noida.
April 5, 2016: Akhilesh skips Modi’s programme Stand Up India at Sector-62 of the Noida township.
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| Mayawati lost her post as UP CM after she visited Noida to inaugurate the Dalit Prerna Sthal. (Photo: Reuters) |
April 20, 2016: The CM keeps away from President Pranab Mukherjee's event inaugurating the second Global Exhibition on Services (GES), which aims at promoting India's trade in the sector.
Aug 22, 2016: Akhilesh inaugurated Bennett University from his official residence in Lucknow.
The Noida jinx has terrified not just Akhilesh, but all Uttar Pradesh chief ministers since 1988, when Vir Bahadur Singh came to visit and lost the elections.
His successor ND Tiwari similarly lost his chief ministership shortly after visiting Noida. The trend continued till as recently as 2011, when Mayawati came to Noida to inaugurate the Dalit Prerna Sthal and then lost the Assembly polls.
The superstitious will recount how Mulayam Singh Yadav and Kalyan Singh were all victims of the Noida curse. Politicians refuse to settle for the more rational explanation that no UP chief minister for the last 20 years has had a consecutive term.
Akhilesh's fear is not wholly unfounded, as the "jinx" has had its effect on the Yadav clan too. Samajwadi Party chieftain Mulayam, who had visited Noida as UP chief minister in 1995, lost the polls that were held immediately thereafter.
In political circles, the fear of the jinx is so well entrenched that Rajnath Singh, former BJP chief minister of UP, had chosen to inaugurate the DND flyway from the Delhi side in 2001 without visiting Noida.
Noida's jinx with other political leaders
1988: Vir Bahadur Singh lost power within days of visiting Noida.
1989: ND Tiwari lost his chair and 10 years later, in 1999, Kalyan Singh suffered the same fate.
1995: Mulayam was out of power within months of his Noida visit.
1997: Mayawati lost power after visiting Noida.
2012: Mayawati again lost power in the assembly elections of that year after she flew down to Noida in October 2011 to inaugurate the Dalit Prerna Sthal.
Akhilesh's political rivals allege that the CM, an engineer who prides himself on his modernity, is swayed by superstition.
Now, if he sticks to his plan to bring his “Vikas Yatra”to Noida, he will definitely shed his image of being superstitious. And most importantly, if Akhilesh does visit and later wins the upcoming Assembly polls, he and the CMs of the future will have no hesitation in visiting the city.
It will also help the government in Lucknow connect better with a constituency that relates more with Delhi. But, if he loses, Noida may not see another CM visiting in a long time.