After suffering years of neglect, a slew of measures undertaken by the Modi-Yogi duo will ensure that the best of the region’s natural resources is utilized

Purvanchal has fertile land, tracts and huge natural resources. The irony is that despite having all these positives, it remains the most backward regions not only in Uttar Pradesh but the entire country. The region has been represented in the past by former Prime Ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Chandrashekhar and stalwarts such as Kamalapati Tripathi, Kalpnath Rai and Mulayam Singh Yadav. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath too got elected from here — and yet politics in this part of the country is marked with little other than caste. However, things are looking up for Purvanchal.

The Modi-Yogi duo has been focussed on this region. The reason is simple: It sends more than two dozen members to the Lok Sabha, more than what the entire State of Gujarat sends. The inauguration of Purvanchal Expressway, which was touted as the lifeline of development of the region by the Chief Minister, is a major step in this direction. Then there are several developmental initiatives, running into thousands of crores of rupees, to boost infrastructure in cities like Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad and Azamgarh. Gorakhpur, which is Yogi’s stronghold as also other parts of the region, are now being connected with a gas pipeline grid under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga — this is expected to give a major fillip to industrialisation.

Yogi Adityanath is also working on the aggregation of an industrial land bank of 10,000 acres in his home turf, which will soon be notified by the Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA). A direct road will connect the district with the proposed Purvanchal Expressway which will also connect Ayodhya. Besides, there are plans to revive a fertiliser plant in the city which has been shut for some time. The Yogi dispensation has already announced industrial corridors along the Purvanchal Expressway. Efforts are on to spread the rail network to the untouched areas of Purvanchal. Both the Union and State Governments are keen on ensuring air connectivity. While the Gorakhpur airport is being upgraded, connectivity is being provided to Azamgarh and a new Delhi-Ayodhya flight has been proposed under the UDAN scheme by the Uttar Pradesh Government.

It also needs to be mentioned here that emphasis on infrastructure improvement and industrialisation is not at the expense of agriculture, which employs the largest number of people, and is a sectoral laggard all over the country. The Modi-Yogi team is keen to transform the vast tracks of fertile land of the region into a hub of food processing units. Tourism is another area that the authorities are trying to promote. Purvanchal doesn’t appear very prominent on the tourist circuits despite the fact that it can boast of many pilgrim centres — some of these are Ayodhya, Shravasti and Gorakhnath Peeth, Kushinagar, Sarnath, Vindhyavasini, Allahabad, and Varanasi.

Bihar and Nepal have pilgrimages like Bodh Gaya and Kapilvastu, many of which, along with centres of Purvanchal, can make new circuits. The Central and State Governments are chalking out plans to boost tourism not only in Purvanchal but also in the adjoining areas. To be sure, politicians often make such announcements for any other regions — similar claims are made and similar plans are formulated, even the buzzwords are just the same. So, what’s new that the Modi-Yogi duo is doing?

First, being ardent Hindu nationalists, some call them jingoists, fascists, Modi and Yogi have a political interest in keeping the element of caste suppressed. The success of Hindutva politics is indirectly proportional to that of caste and quota-oriented politics. And caste, as we mentioned earlier, is the bane of Purvanchal politics. It is another matter that many academics have bestowed respectability to caste politics by calling it ‘social engineering.’ But an evil by any other name is still an evil.

Second, unlike many other prominent politicians from this region, the Modi-Yogi duo is not fascinated with socialism. This fascination has cost the region a lot. For instance, there is not much in terms of industry in Purvanchal. The number of medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) is abysmal. Now, Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath are not exactly the champions of reforms but at the same time, they have no fascination with the command of economic imperative. So, they have no compunctions in rolling out the red carpet for investors, including multinational corporations (MNCs), which are in the scheme of swadeshi zealots and salon socialists, the much-hated avatars of the East India Company. Neither Modi nor Yogi has great regard for the swadeshi wallahs, and certainly not for the Left-liberals.

Finally, it is for the first time that the political class has got serious regarding the development of Purvanchal. It may be recalled that in the recent past, a great deal was said about the backwardness of Bundelkhand but Purvanchal somehow couldn’t attract the attention of the politicians. This has changed now perhaps because the Chief Minister is from that region. Therefore, one may not sound too optimistic in saying that the people of Purvanchal can look forward to a better tomorrow in the foreseeable future.

(The writer is a former journalist and currently teaching political science at DDU Gorakhpur University)