Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was in Mumbai recently for a two-day visit and met with several prominent members of the film industry, including Suniel Shetty, Subhash Ghai, Jackie Shroff, and Boney Kapoor. The meeting, held at the Taj Colaba, was also attended by other notable names such as Sonu Nigam and Akshay Kumar.
The Chief Minister's visit to Mumbai included a roadshow to promote the upcoming three-day global investors meet in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled for February 10. During the roadshow, Adityanath met with bankers and financial institutions to discuss investment opportunities in the state. He also met with industry leaders and filmmakers as part of the effort to attract more businesses and productions to Uttar Pradesh.
However, the roadshow has faced criticism from some quarters, including the Maharashtra Congress. The party's president, Nana Patole, called it "a conspiracy of the BJP to reduce Mumbai's importance" and accused the Chief Minister of "practicing the politics of religious polarisation." Patole argued that after "sending" industries to Gujarat, the BJP was now trying to "transfer investments from Maharashtra to BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh." He questioned whether any businessman would be willing to invest in a state where the government was perceived as being run in the name of religion.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut criticized the Chief Minister's road show in Mumbai, calling it "political business." Raut stated, "if he wants to meet industrialists and invite them to Uttar Pradesh for setting up projects, he is welcome. But what is the need for him to hold a roadshow in Mumbai if he is looking to attract investments? It is nothing but politics and this must stop."
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's visit to Mumbai and meeting with members of the film industry focused on inviting them to explore Uttar Pradesh as a film-making destination and discussing the state's film policy. The Shiv Sena party has criticized Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's recent roadshow in Mumbai as a "BJP-backed political game" in an editorial published in its mouthpiece, Saamana.
Criticism by Shiv Sena
The editorial accuses the Chief Minister of promoting himself through full-page newspaper advertisements and calls on him to reveal the details of the roadshow, including which industrialists participated and how much wealth was invested.
The Shiv Sena also alleges that the main purpose of the roadshow was to steal away investments from Maharashtra, citing the loss of 2.5 lakh crore worth of investment to Gujarat in the past. The party claims that major projects such as Vedanta Foxconn, Airbus, and the International Economic Center of Maharashtra have been forcibly shifted to Gujarat.
What Bollywood had to say?
Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam in an interview with Aaj Tak spoke positively about the development in Uttar Pradesh, saying "my family belongs to Uttar Pradesh, so we get the first information from there." Veteran actor Sunil Shetty also engaged with the Chief Minister, saying "this hashtag of Bollywood being against the government] needs to be removed" and urging the Prime Minister to address the issue.
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