Have PM Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath broken the ‘Noida jinx’?
Noida, the city in Uttar Pradesh that was once believed to bring bad luck to its chief ministers (CM), is proving to be a boon for the current CM of the state, Yogi Adityanath.
The "jinx of Noida" is that any chief minister who visits the city loses power. But Adityanath has already visited Noida more than half a dozen times and launched and inaugurated several projects worth billions of rupees, and so far, it has neither brought him bad luck nor dented his political fortunes.
In fact, by coming to the city, Yogi Adityanath has proved himself to be more modern in outlook and thought than his predecessors. Akhilesh Yadav, who was the CM just before Yogi, did not dare to visit Noida even once during his tenure, because of the regressive, superstitious belief of the "jinx".
Never has it happened in the history of Uttar Pradesh that the chief minister of the state as well as the prime minister have visited Noida so many times. It was from this very city that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched his "Startup India" campaign and the Delhi-Meerut Expressway project.
Taking on the 'jinx'
Adityanath's first visit to Noida was on September 23, 2017, when he undertook an assessment of the Botanical Garden-Kalkaji magenta metro line before its inauguration.
Again, two days later, on September 25, when the PM was in the city to inaugurate the metro line, Yogi Adityanath accompanied him. In just three days, the CM made two visits to the city, proving he did not care about the "jinx". He even said that he would keep coming to Noida again and again.
After this, the CM held meetings with officers of the irrigation department here recently. Then on July 8, he was in the city to oversee arrangements for the PM’s visit. On July 9, he visited the city for the fifth time when PM Modi inaugurated Samsung’s largest mobile factory in the world in Noida.
What led to the Noida myth
The "Noida jinx" story has been going on since the 1980s, and a number of Uttar Pradesh CMs have seemingly "fallen victim" to it.
Vishwanath Pratap Singh
In 1982, the then chief minister of the state, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, had come to Noida to inaugurate the VV Giri Labour Institute. Immediately after that, he lost his chief ministership. Although later, he went on to become the prime minister of India.
Vir Bahadur Singh
In 1988, Vir Bahadur Singh lost power within days of his visiting Noida. That year, as the chief minister of the state, he had visited a studio in Noida Film City to participate in a programme. Thereafter, he went to inaugurate Kalindi Kunj Park in Delhi, just adjoining Noida. After a few months, he lost his CM chair.
Narayan Dutt Tiwari
After Vir Bahadur Singh, Narayan Dutt Tiwari became the chief minister. In 1989, he had come to Sector 12 in Noida to inaugurate Nehru Park. Later, he also lost his chief ministership.
Mulayam Singh Yadav
In 1994, Mulayam Singh Yadav as the chief minister of the state had visited Noida’s Sector 40 to inaugurate Khaitan Public School. Much to everybody’s astonishment, he had even said that he had come there to break the myth. But that proved not to be the case. A few months later, he lost power too. After this, political leaders got so spooked that no one dared to visit the city for another six years.
Mayawati
After Mulayam, Mayawati garnered the courage to test the jinx.
During her tenures as chief minister, Mayawati visited Noida four times, and lost power each time. The most recent of these was in 2011, when she came to Noida to inaugurate the Dalit Prerna Sthal and lost power in the 2012 elections.
Akhilesh Yadav
Unlike his father Mulayam, who had at least displayed the courage to visit Noida, Akhilesh was so scared of the repercussions that he inaugurated all Noida-related projects from his office in Lucknow. He did not even go to Noida to receive the president and the prime minister as per protocol, and rather sent his ministers.