UP: Yogi govt subject of ridicule over ad in newspaper

Opposition parties have attacked the Yogi Adityanath government over an the advertisement that had a picture from Kolkata in West Bengal as development work in Uttar Pradesh. Social media platforms were on fire with the opposition parties and the general public alike ridiculing the ruling BJP in the state.

Lucknow: All hell broke loose after the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh published an advertisement in an English newspaper regarding development work in the state. When it came to light that one of the pictures used in the advertisement is of another state, the state government became a target of continuous trolling by the opposition parties and the public in general on social media platforms.

With preparations on for the 2022 assembly elections in the state, the opposition parties are not letting go of this opportunity to target the ruling BJP. As soon as the advertisement regarding development work in the state under BJP government was published on the front page of an English newspaper, the public and opposition started targeting the ruling dispensation. The picture in the advertisement that brought ridicule for the government was actually from the city of Kolkata in West Bengal, nearly a thousand kilometres from Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow.

One of tweets ridiculing the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.

When it came to light that the picture was of a flyover and a hotel built in Kolkata, the social media platforms were on fire with pictures of foreign countries shown as cities of Uttar Pradesh. People sarcastically commented that development work in cities like Sitapur, Gorakhpur, Bahraich, Kanpur, Lucknow, Etawah and Jalaun is happening so fast that it is being discussed abroad. Be it Shyam Rangeela, who is known for mimicking Prime Minister Narendra Modi or other faces on social media, acerbic comments were made about the state government.

One social media post showed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath flagging off a high-speed train from his constituency Gorakhpur. Apart from this, names of Uttar Pradesh districts were written alongside pictures of foreign cities posted on these platforms with sharp critical words about the government. People sarcastically commented that development in the state was happening so fast that even foreign cities have failed. Opposition parties like Samajwadi Party (SP), Congress and Aam Aadmi Party and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched sharp attacks on the government exposing what they called its lies about development work in the state.

While one social media post showed London's Tower Bridge as Gomtinagar, another depicted the Eiffel Tower of Paris as a 6G network tower in Uttar Pradesh. While the Japanese city of Kyoto was shown as Varanasi, pictures of Lucknow's Hussainabad and Lalbagh also appeared on the social media platforms along with acerbic comments. Pictures of skyscrapers abroad were shown as those of Sitapur while one picture of Ballia showed a bullet train between Lucknow and Gorakhpur being launched alongside a picture of Yogi Adityanath. One picture of a magnificent lake somewhere abroad was shown as Kukrail drain of Lucknow ridiculing the government. There were sarcastic words of thanks addressed to Yogi Adityanath bringing shame to his government.

This was the first time when the Yogi Adityanath government had to face such trolling after the false picture of development work in the state surfaced on Twitter. Given the immense trolling by the opposition parties and the public in general, the BJP IT cell then got into the act and posted actual pictures of hi-tech buildings in the state and cities where development work took place in a bid to douse the fire. But by then it was too late and government came under attack from all around.

However, political analyst Dilip Agnihotri said that though the advertisement showing a Kolkata flyover as that of Uttar Pradesh has brought trouble for the government, neither is the Chief Minister responsible for it nor can it be said that Uttar Pradesh needs to borrow pictures of development from any other state.

“This unforgivable mistake can be of any officer of the information department and accountability should be fixed,” Agnihotri said, adding that as far as flyover construction is concerned, remarkable work has been done in the last four years.

He said that it was surprising that instead of showing the flyovers which were inaugurated in Lucknow, the officers responsible borrowed one from Kolkata to display in the advertisement.