‘Jancha, Parkha, Khara’ (Tried, Tested, Pure) scream the hoardings with industry minister Satish Mahana’s face in Maharajpur, Kanpur. The seven-time-MLA, who has won continuously from here for the last 30 years, seems set for yet another cakewalk, but he has another question to answer as the person in charge of getting industries to Uttar Pradesh – where are the jobs?
“Who says jobs did not come to UP? Industries and jobs are complementary to each other. Industry will come, jobs will come. UP was earlier the last preferred area for industrialists because, at that time, gundagardi was there, ransom was there, kidnappings were there. Why are Brahmos and Samsung coming to UP now? The major change is in law and order. Electricity is now provided,” Mahana told News18 amidst hectic campaigning in Maharajpur on Monday.
Akhilesh Yadav has been attacking the Yogi Adityanath government over unemployment and has promised 1 crore jobs in UP by 2027 if he comes to power.
“In the Ease of Doing Business ranking, Uttar Pradesh was 16th during the Samajwadi Party time and now we are at second rank. We have left behind many industrial states and become the most preferred state for industry. When Akhilesh says it was in their times that these industries had come, I would just like to ask — was Brahmos there? No. Was Bharat Dynamics there? No. Was Samsung Display Unit there? No,” Mahana stressed.
He said that Samsung moving its Display Unit factory from China to UP during the pandemic was a great achievement.
“We allotted them land and this is one of the largest factories as far as Samsung is concerned. They are manufacturing in UP and exporting to the world. I went to Singapore before the pandemic in 2019. I asked industries to come to UP, they said we are going to Bengaluru… we hardly come to North India. Now they land in Delhi and come to UP. After 2.5 years, they will land at Jewar airport and stay back in UP,” Mahana told News18.
He also made light of the Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Choudhary tie-up, saying earlier also the “do ladke – Akhilesh aur Rahul Gandhi” had a similar slogan, but people rejected them.
“Jayant is the same person who once said jis gaadi pe SP ka jhanda, usme baitha gunda,” Mahana said, adding that the BJP is confident of having performed well in west UP as it delivered on law and order. In Kanpur’s 10 Assembly seats, the BJP holds seven seats and seems in a good position on all said seats.
Satish Bhaiyya and Public Connect
Mahana, 61, reminisced to a crowd at a public meeting in Maharajpur that three generations of people in the seat have voted for him. Women thronged to Mahana for selfies, and so did youngsters. “In my constituency, people and I, we are made for each other. Whatever they expect of me, I do that. Their support is the power and booster dose for me to work for them. People over here don’t treat me as a neta or a minister — I’m a family member for them. Women call me bhaiyya here. The bhaiyya word is bigger for me than any post,” Mahana told News18.
But challenging Satish Mahana’s 30-year-long reign from this seat is Samajwadi Party’s Fateh Bahadur Singh Gill, a political debutant who was arrested by police for protesting outside Mahana’s house in Kanpur on October 2. “I went to protest there with roses but Mahana got me arrested and got the Goonda Act imposed on me and I was sent to jail. Akhilesh Yadav has now given me the ticket to end Mahana’s reign,” said Gill. The seat has some Sikh population.
However, Mahana challenged this version of events and showed News18 a video of the said incident. “Gill came to my house and started abusing me. I did not do anything, it was the administration’s job, they took care of it. I did not file report against any of those people. I think that was the only criteria which made him get the SP ticket that he came to my house and abused me,” Mahana said. He stressed that he never speaks ill of any candidate put up against him.
To the crowd, Mahana usually strikes a personal chord and said his area had the best facilities than even the poshest areas of Kanpur. “Earlier, electricity did not come, now it never goes. Women and girls are safe. Akhilesh Yadav misguided people on vaccine, by linking it to the BJP. Now whoever took the vaccine said they will vote for the BJP,” Mahana said.
He added that in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee was disliking ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans and now she was supporting Akhilesh in UP.
At his election office, Mahana’s aides said they are working towards the target of making him poll 2 lakh votes in the seat which has around 3.7 lakh voters and may see around 2.8 lakh votes being polled. “Our fight is with nobody. Our fight is only with our target of polling 2 lakh votes,” his aides said.
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