Noida ‘jinx’ gives Akhilesh cold feet to skip PM Modi’s function

Noida jinx, as per political circles, has in the past spelt trouble for several chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh as well as senior leaders, and the list is all set to add one more name- Akhilesh Yadav- who is going to skip Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s function in the city on Thursday. 

‘Noida jinx’ is said to be reason for the CM’s absence for an official function, as it is believed that previous chief ministers lost elections soon after visiting Noida. Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Noida to lay the foundation of Delhi-Meerut Expressway on December 31.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lost the chair after his visit in 1987. In 1990, the then Prime Minister VP Singh lost after his Dadri visit. Recently in 2014, Manmohan Singh participated in Asian Development Bank (ADB) summit there and thereafter he witnessed a poll debacle. 

In the list of UP chief ministers, Vir Bahadur Singh, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Kalyan Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, either lost their elections or their chief ministerial chair soon after visiting the city. Even all the big guns of political parties have shunned the city on various occasions as the jinx continues.

Talking on the possibility of Yadav visiting Noida, IG, Law and Order A Satish Ganesh informed that Panchayati Raj Minister Kailash Yadav has been nominated to represent the CM in Noida. Another minister, Shahid Manzoor, is expected to attend the function as he hails from Meerut, the other city which will be connected through the project.

The ‘Noida jinx’ started in 1988 when former chief minister Vir Bahadur Singh lost power soon after visiting the city. In 1989, ND Tiwari, in the year 1995 it was Mulayam who was out of power within five months of his visit, in 1997 Mayawati and later on in 1999 Kalyan Singh suffered the same fate. 

In 2012, Mayawati again lost power in assembly elections after she flew down to Noida in October 2011. In 2001, the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the DND flyway from Delhi end and did not visit Noida. 

Such is the fear surrounding the Noida jinx that in 2012 CM Akhilesh Yadav inaugurated the Yamuna Expressway from Lucknow and in 2013, he inaugurated infrastructure projects in Gautam Buddha Nagar without visiting the city. Ahead of Lok Sabha polls last year, big leaders - Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Arvind Kejriwal, etc- avoided holding their rallies in the area. 

The leaders addressed the rallies in border areas of Ghaziabad, Aligarh and Bulandshar avoiding Noida. The superstition was so dominant that the pleadings of the candidates and their supporters fell on deaf years and none of the bigwigs visited national Capital’s suburb.