With a thumping victory in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Yogi Adityanath seems to have broken many records. He has become the first sitting chief minister to win a consecutive term after having served the post for five years. However not just one but multiple records and myths were broken on 10th of March, when results for the Vidhan Sabha elections of the state of Uttar Pradesh were declared. Notably of them was the ‘Noida jinx’.
What is the ‘Noida Jinx’ ?
Politically, Noida was a taboo and is assumed to be a no-go zone. There has been a superstition [a hilarious one at that] for many that a visit to the NCR city brings an electoral bad luck and reduces the winnability of Uttar Pradesh’s sitting chief ministers. Believe it or not but ‘Noida jinx’ has scared even the mightiest of the mighty in Uttar Pradesh.
This “Noida jinx” gained traction in Uttar Pradesh politics after the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Vir Bahadur Singh was forced to resign in 1988. Notably, he had visited New Okhla Industrial Development Authority – in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district few days before the resignation.
The last CM before Yogi Adityanath to visit Noida was BSP supremo Mayawati, who took oath as the UP CM in March 2007. She had visited Noida to attend the wedding of close aide Satish Mishra’s relative. However, the BSP supremo’s visit to Noida led to her ouster from power from the state in 2012.
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Moreover, Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, BJP’s Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh had also avoided visiting Noida while they were serving as chief ministers. Samajwadi Party Supremo Akhilesh Yadav had become the CM in 2012 and joined the bandwagon to avoid in-person visit to Noida. In 2013, former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not attend the Asian Development Bank Summit as it was organised in Noida.
Akhilesh Yadav had inaugurated the Yamuna Expressway in 2012 from Lucknow despite the 165-km highway having its parameters from Greater Noida to Agra which is about 350-km away from Lucknow.
How Yogi Adityanath marked the end of jinx?
The last CM before Yogi Adityanath to visit Noida was BSP Supremo Mayawati, who took oath as the UP CM in March 2007. She had visited Noida to attend the wedding of close aide Satish Mishra’s relative. However, the BSP supremo’s visit to Noida led to her ouster from power from the state in 2012.
Read more: West UP: Jat Muslim brotherhood made BJP win
Moreover, Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, BJP’s Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh had also avoided visiting Noida while they were serving as chief ministers. Samajwadi Party Supremo Akhilesh Yadav had become the CM in 2012 and joined the bandwagon to avoid in-person visit to Noida. In 2013, former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not attend the Asian Development Bank Summit as it was organised in Noida.
Akhilesh Yadav had inaugurated the Yamuna Expressway in 2012 from Lucknow despite the 165-km highway having its parameters from Greater Noida to Agra which is about 350-km away from Lucknow.
How Yogi Adityanath marked the end of jinx?
However, Yogi Adityanath never fell for this laughable myth. Ever since he came to power in UP in 2017, he has visited the city not once, but multiple times. From launching the Noida Metro and several other projects, not only did he boldly visit Noida, needles of the fear of losing elections, but also he ensured that the city looks much better than it is at present. On December 25 2018, Yogi Adityanath along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Noida to inaugurate Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line; thus, breaking the jinx.
Read more: The records that Yogi Adityanath broke with his massive victory
Earlier this year, Adityanath again went to Gautam Buddh Nagar to review the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Hitting out at Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, he had asserted that it was necessary for him to visit NCR city as the preceding chief ministers who always hesitated to visit Noida. Interestingly, Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh has won the Noida seat by a record margin of 126,558 votes, defeating Samajwadi Party’s Sunil Choudhary. As such, despite multiple visits to Noida, Yogi Adityanath has just won another term in office, and the ‘Noida jinx’ has been dismantled.