“We have not come here to take away anything,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in Mumbai on Wednesday, amid concerns that he was in the city to take away the local Hindi film industry to Noida where his government has allocated 1,000 acres for a brand new film city.
“It is not a purse, that it can be taken away. This is open competition. If someone who can provide a safe working atmosphere, better facilities and social security and an environment in which every individual can work without discrimination, it will attract people and investment,” Mr. Adityanath said.
He was responding to questions on statements issued by the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Congress leaders on the motive behind his visit and how difficult it would be to shift Bollywood from Mumbai.
“We are creating something new. Why are you worried? We will provide world class infrastructure to all. People need to widen their thinking and provide better facilities. One who will do that will be successful. U.P. is prepared for this,” he said. “We are not snatching away investment from anybody nor are we derailing anyone’s development.”
Ahead of the U.P. Chief Minister’s visit, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had stated that no one can forcibly take away any business from the State. The Maharashtra Congress, Shiv Sena’s alliance partner in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, spoke about a conspiracy being hatched by the BJP to rob Maharashtra of its investments.
Mr. Adityanath had arrived in Mumbai for the “ring the bell” ceremony at BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) for the listing of Lucknow Municipal Corporation bonds that were issued under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation scheme.
With this, he said, he had created history by becoming the first Chief Minister of his State to ring the bell at BSE for a listing. He said the listing indicated the transparency in the urban bodies of U.P. and the funds would be used to improve infrastructure in his cities and for social development. More municipal corporations, he said, would come out with bonds issues soon and would be listing on the BSE.
The Chief Minister said since he was visiting the city he thought he would meet Bollywood personalities and industrialists to encourage them to invest in his State.
Among those he met were Boney Kapoor, Anand Pandit, Manmohan Shetty and Subhah Ghai. “I met film producers, actors, directors and other technical people working in the industry and took their inputs to develop a world class film city, 6 km away from the new international airport coming up at Jawar.”
Industry captains who met him included N. Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons, S.N. Subrahmanyan, MD & CEO, Larsen & Toubro, Baba Kalyani, chairman, Kalyani Group, Niranjan Hiranandani, CMD, Hiranandani Group, Sanjay Nayar, CEO, KKR India, and Suprakash Chaudhuri, VP & MD, Siemens Industry Software Ltd.
Mr. Adithyanath said the industry leaders who had plans to enter defence production also met him as they were keen to set up units in the Defence Corridors being set up in the State. Among them were top executives from the Adani Group, Hinduja Group and Mahindra Group.