The leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party often say that since their government came to power, Hindu religious places have been developed, whereas before that they were being neglected. BJP seems to be fulfilling its claim by rejuvenating Ayodhya and Kashi Vishwanath temple and designing the entire area as a religious tourist terminus. It is believed that it can also get advantages in the assembly elections of UP and the 2024 LS elections. This is also indicated by chattering to the local people of Varanasi. However, even after this, the Samajwadi Party claims that from Prayagraj to the city of Baba Vishwanath in the Ganges during the Corona period, every development claim of the BJP will be overshadowed.
The road from the Godaulia junction of Varanasi to Dashashwamedh Ghat has been widened extensively. Shops located on both sides of the road have been painted with light red-saffron colour to give uniformity before PM Modi visited Banaras for its launch. Kishan, who runs a cloth shop on the same route, told that in his more than 30 years of business experience, he had never seen the Vishwanath temple and the area grow. PM Modi fulfilled his promise made in 2014 and transformed the entire Varanasi.
Kishan says that the people of this area are conquered by this development of the temples and are ready to unite openly with the BJP. The reason for this can be called not only the development of spiritual places but the development of alleys, squares, roads and flyovers of the whole of Banaras. He said that his business has increased after this development, except during the Corona period. People are overwhelmingly welcoming this development.
Praveen Jain, who runs a restaurant on this route, said that due to the good development of the roads, the number of devotees coming here has increased. This has increased the work of those people. If full credit can be given to anyone, then it can only be given to PM Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party. This is the reason why the public has a positive vision for him.
However, clothing trader Ankur Tiwari still says that the business is not going to be completely back. He said that a large number of Hindu devotees always used to visit the religious city of Varanasi. No credit can be given to the contribution of any government in this. It is because of this spiritual city that devotees from all corners of the country come here. He said that after the weakening of Corona, the number of devotees coming here has increased rapidly, but even after this people are hesitant to make purchases. It is visible the effect of the recession of the Corona period which is still weighing heavily on the pockets of the people.
Driver Sunil Nishad says that still foreign tourists have not been allowed to come here. Omicron's growing threat has hit his chances again. Foreign tourists were their biggest source of income. He said that even after the weakening of the coronavirus, it becomes difficult for him to earn 200 to 300 rupees per day. He told that the UP Water Police is deployed here to prevent any accident in the Ganges, but there is not a single driver in it. He said that the government which does not do the job of employing the youth of his society should be changed.
According to Sunil Nishad, in this era of inflation, he is finding it difficult to run the household expenses. They want the system to change and work to improve. That is, the issue of employment in this religious city can prove to be more important for the youth.
Samajwadi Party national spokesperson IP Singh told that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking credit for the works of the Akhilesh government. The Purvanchal Express, which BJP is claiming as its own, had already been cut in the name of the Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway. He said that the BJP feels that due to these false claims of their development, the people of the state will forget the scenes which were seen by them in the form of dead bodies descending from Prayagraj to Buxar during the Corona period.
He said that the BJP government is not fulfilling the aspirations of the people. People are still under immense pressure due to not being able to run their homes. BJP will have to pay the price for this. The SP leader claimed that this time Prime Minister Modi will face a crushing defeat not only from the West but also from the East. He alleged that the reason for this is the arrogance of BJP leaders, false claims of development and distance from public friendly schemes.
