LUCKNOW: Giving a robust push to the development of Purvanchal (eastern UP) ahead of the 2022 electoral battle, Prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated nine medical colleges through a video link in Siddharthnagar district in Gorakhpur division followed by the launch of Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission in Varanasi, his Parliamentary constituency, on Monday.
While the political pundits believe that by choosing Siddharthnagar and Varanasi to inaugurate the projects, PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath wanted to give a political message to the people of Purvanchal in poll-bound UP.
The importance of Purvanchal can be gauged from the fact that within a span of five days, it was the second visit of the Prime Minister to Hindi heartland’s eastern region. On October 20, the PM had come down to Kushinagar, the land of Budhha’s salvation, to inaugurate the state’s third and country’s 87th international airport.
Moreover, the PM also dedicated welfare projects worth Rs 5229 crore to the people of Varanasi. These whirlwind visits of the PM to Purvanchal could be a reflection of him holding the reins of the 2022 electoral battle with a focus on eastern UP.
Built at a cost of Rs 2,329 crore, the nine medical colleges, inaugurated on Monday, are situated in the districts of Siddharthnagar, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, and Jaunpur.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, and Union health and family welfare minister Mansukh Mandaviya were also present during the inauguration ceremony at Siddharthnagar and Varanasi.
Addressing a public gathering in Saddharthnagar, the PM claimed that the upcoming medical infrastructure would fulfill the dreams of a healthy India.
“They (medical colleges) are a gift to the people of the state,” said the PM claiming that those nine colleges would create over 5,000 employment opportunities and around 2,500 hospital beds
“Earlier governments left the people of 'Purvanchal' to suffer from diseases like life-taking Japanese encephalitis but now it will become a medical hub of northern India,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also alleged that previous governments were only "filling their family lockers" and earning for themselves. “But our priority is to save the poor's money and provide them with facilities,” he averred.
Of the nine medical colleges, eight have been sanctioned under Centre-sponsored schemes for the "establishment of new medical colleges in each district and referral hospitals". The medical college in Jaunpur, on the other hand, has been made functional by the Uttar Pradesh government through its own resources.
Later in Varanasi, listing out his government's achievements in the past seven years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated his charge that previous governments were responsible for not developing adequate and quality medical infrastructure in the country.
He claimed that healthcare was just a "source of income" for several parties as they looted the people of India for their own benefit. The Prime Minister also mentioned the milestone of inoculating more than 100 crore people against the deadly coronavirus and thanked healthcare staff and frontline workers for their efforts, saying the campaign of 'Sabko vaccine, muft vaccine' was going ahead successfully.
He again gave a push to 'Atmanirbhara Bharat' and 'Vocal for Local', asking people to buy and use made-in-India products during the upcoming festive season. It is said that the path to Lucknow goes through Purvanchal. It is an issue of BJP’s prestige as the constituency of both PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath fall in eastern UP.
Purvanchal contributes around 33% of seats to the UP Assembly of 403. It has 164 assembly segments across 28 districts. In the last assembly elections in 2017, BJP had got a landslide victory by bagging 115 of 164 seats, whereas Samajwadi Party had got 17, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 14, Congress two, and others 16.
What is more, BJP had got maximum seats from Purvanchal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “In the wake of Lakhimpur Kheri violence and the consistent farmers’ unrest in western UP, BJP is now concentrating on Purvanchal to make up for the possible losses of western UP by winning in Purvanchal,” says JP Shukla, a prominent political commentator.
Moreover, the BJP is trying to balance the caste equations in eastern UP by aligning with smaller caste-based groups as Apna Dal of Anupriya Patel, and NISAHD Party of Dr. Sanjay Nishad as part of Mission UP.