Partnership of political dynasties crushed UP's aspirations, says PM Modi at Purvanchal Expressway inauguration

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the 341 km long Purvanchal Expressway, in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh on November 16 (Image: ANI).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 16 launched a scathing attack on opposition parties in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, accusing previous governments of confining development to the areas where they lived.

The PM also said that the 'partnership' of political dynasties, in power in the past, had crushed the aspirations of people of the state for years.

"The manner in which governments were run for a long time didn't pay attention to the state's all-round development. For previous chief ministers, development was limited to where they had their homes," Modi said after inaugurating the 341-km long Purvanchal Expressway at Karwal Kheri in Sultanpur district.

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Modi called the project "the expressway to the state’s development" that will show the way to a new Uttar Pradesh. The launch comes almost 3 years after he laid its foundation stone of the project in Azamgarh in July 2018.

"When I laid the foundation stone of Purvanchal Expressway three years ago, I could not have thought that I will land here on an aircraft one day," said the PM who landed in a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft before inaugurating the six-lane expressway which can be expanded to eight-lane in the future.

The highway starts from Chandsarai village on the outskirts of Lucknow and ends at Haidaria village in Ghazipur district, 18 km ahead of the UP-Bihar border. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and governor Anandiben Patel received the Prime Minister.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaches Karwal Kheri on C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft to inaugurate the 341 Km long Purvanchal Expressway, shortly

(Source: DD) pic.twitter.com/dxQzlC476G

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— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 16, 2021

The PM accused past governments of ignoring connectivity. 

"When a person thinks of constructing a home, he considers roads and checks soil... But we saw a long period of governments in UP who showed dreams to people without thinking of connectivity. With the result many factories were shut. It was also unfortunate that, under these circumstances, dynasts were in power in Delhi and Lucknow. For years, the partnership of these dynasts crushed aspirations of people of UP," the PM said.

The Prime Minister also accused Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government (2012-17) of not cooperating with the Centre. “When I would come here as an MP, he (Akhilesh) would welcome me at the airport and then disappear. Maybe he would feel ashamed as he had nothing to show for his work,” Modi said.

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The project, one of the biggest completed by the Yogi Adityanath government at the estimated cost of Rs 22,496 crore, has been billed as the carrier of development to the underdeveloped Purvanchal region of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The timing of the completion of the project assumes significance as it comes months ahead of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh scheduled early next year.

The Indian Air Force performed an airshow at the event to be held along a 3.2-km stretch at Karwal Kheri specially designed to enable landing/take-off of Indian Air Force fighter planes in case of emergency. "The roar of these aircraft will also be for the people who ignored the defence infrastructure of the nation for decades," the PM said.

#WATCH | Medium transport aircraft An-32 lands on the 3.2-km long airstrip of Purvanchal Expressway inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in Karwal Kheri, Sultanpur today

(Source: DD) pic.twitter.com/uGwKCERP4p

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 16, 2021

The expressway will serve as a direct link between the National Capital Region and eastern Uttar Pradesh close to Bihar. The Yamuna Expressway connects Noida to Agra, the Lucknow-Agra Expressway goes up to UP capital and now the Purvanchal expressway connects Lucknow with the UP-Bihar border.

Earlier, the people of Uttar Pradesh were fed up due to poor connectivity, the PM said. But, in the last four-and-a-half years, thousands of villages have been connected with roads, he said.

“For people from east, reaching Lucknow was like Mahabharata. Development was limited to the families of those in power. But now all regions are given equal priority. Purvanchal express connects people. Apart from Purvanchal, people from Bihar will be benefited by this expressway,” Modi said.

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The project has sparked a war of words between the state’s ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP), with both parties claiming credit for conceiving the project. SP chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of trying to claim credit for the SP government’s work before the assembly polls.