As the PM inaugurates the Purvanchal Expressway today (Tuesday), the pitch is around how the road will transform the backward regions of eastern UP. And with this, the BJP is planning a big way to retain power in India’s most populous state.

Inaugurating the highway, the PM said that the highway “will unite UP”. He focussed on highlighting the economic and social progress of the state under Yogi Adityanath’s regime, saying, “When I laid the foundation stone of Purvanchal Expressway three years back, I never thought I would land here on an aircraft one day.” 

The PM further lauded the Yogi Adityanath government — that had come under severe criticism over the mishandling of Covid second wave — by saying, “The State has got thousands of kilometres of roads in the last four years… Medical colleges have been set up. The State has given over 14 crore doses.”

The six-lane expressway, connecting Lucknow with the districts of eastern UP, was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 22,497 crore. It passes through nine districts — Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur. All these districts are considered to be strongholds of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress.

The BJP’s pitch for the regions comes as no surprise ahead of the UP Assembly polls. Neither was the saffron party going to spare any opportunity to slam the Opposition. At the inaugural event, PM Modi pointed out the shortcomings of the SP government saying that the former governments “punished” the State with their neglect. “As an MP from UP, I have developed a relationship with the locals. It pains me to remember how the former government did not support our development agenda when we were elected to power in 2014,” he added at a not-so-veiled attempt in targeting the former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

And neither was the Opposition going to take it lying down. Demanding the credit he and his party deserve, the former UP CM tweeted earlier today saying, “The ribbon has come from Lucknow and the scissors came from Delhi to take credit for the Samajwadi Party’s work…”

He has been saying that the Expressway project was actually conceived by his government. “The SP government completed the Agra Expressway within 22 months whereas the BJP government is inaugurating an incomplete Purvanchal Expressway. The people are aware of the fact and they cannot be misled,” he said.

Yogi Adityanath, however, has refuted Akhilesh Yadav’s claims of laying the foundation stone in December 2016 and said that the project’s foundation stone was laid in 2018 by the PM. And he took the credit for completing the project on time despite the several roadblocks due to the pandemic. “Eastern UP, which was neglected after independence, is now moving at a fast pace on the path of development. The expressway will become the backbone of the economy of the eastern UP. At eight spots on the Expressway, the State government will develop an industrial corridor to give a fillip to industrial and business activities. The state government has issued a notification for the development of the industrial corridor,” the UP CM reportedly said.

Not that Behenji Mayawati was not going to demand her share of the pie. The BSP chief lost no time in hitting out at the BJP, reportedly saying, “The BJP is trying to take credit for the Purvanchal Expressway that is not correct. The plan of the Expressway project to connect NOIDA in west UP with the districts of east UP was prepared when the BSP was in power. Due to the hurdles put by the then Congress government (at the Centre), the project could not be launched.”

BJP spared no efforts in making the inauguration programme a grand event. After all, optics are important and more so ahead of the elections. The party mobilised its resources and cadre from across the eastern UP — the Purvanchal region — to create an impact and send a message to the voters about BJP’s commitment to developing the region.

But BJP is not banking only on the Expressway as a bid to secure Purvanchal. Last month, the PM inaugurated the Kushinagar International Airport, again in the eastern UP region. Not just the airport, but the PM also flagged off a slew of development schemes and said that the projects will create new job opportunities in the region.

Kushinagar is one of UP’s poorest districts. Further, an international airport in one of the most important Buddhist sites is a symbolic bid to the politically crucial Dalit vote bank of UP. Not that all Dalits are Buddhists. In fact, Buddhists comprise barely a fraction of the total population of the most populous state in the country. However, the religion has an association with the most respected Dalit icon — Babasaheb Ambedkar — who had converted to the faith. Further, this hits out straight at Mayawati, who had stated at Kanshi Ram’s funeral ceremonies in 2006, that both Kanshi Ram and herself had been, and she would continue to be, observant of Buddhist traditions and customs. Born a Hindu, Mayawati has said that she intends to formally convert to Buddhism when the “political conditions enable her to become the PM.”

However, SP had claimed credit for the airport as well. Akhilesh tweeted, “The tourism and economic activities will get a boost after the ‘Kushinagar airport’ initiated by the SP government becomes operational. The BJP should take inspiration from the public interest works of the SP government instead of merely making a record of inaugurating the SP government’s projects”.

In fact the SP state spokesperson and former minister in the Akhilesh cabinet, Rajendra Chaudhary lashed out at the Yogi government by reportedly saying, “The SP government took several decisions for the State’s development and paved the way for the UP’s prosperity. The then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in 2016 had sanctioned Rs 207 crore for the airport and the Bhumi Pujan (a ceremony for the project’s start) was held on April 3, 2016.”

Even if one were to account for it, the credit will automatically be attributed to the BJP government that completed and inaugurated the project within its tenure. After all, the popular adage goes, “History is written by the victors.”

The question now is who will write history post-2022. And the answer to that is something the country and the politicians await with a bated breath.