Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was in Mumbai to launch the 200-crore Lucknow Municipal Corporation bond in the Bombay Stock Exchange. He had also met several film personalities to discuss investments in UP’s upcoming Film City in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. CM Yogi has already met actor Akshay Kumar to discuss the possibilities. His Mumbai visit has, however, irked the ruling party alliance.
National Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena leaders have raised questions over his visit, alleging CM Yogi is trying to ‘take away’ the film industry from Mumbai.
Maharashtra: Actor Akshay Kumar called on Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath at Mumbai’s Trident hotel where the latter is staying.
— ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2020
UP Chief Minister will launch Rs 200 crores Lucknow Municipal bond at Bombay Stock Exchange tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/BZVfiMd0Bk
UP plans to setup the biggest film city in India
In September, Yogi Adityanath had announced that the UP government had allotted 1000 acres of land for the Film City in Gautam Buddh Nagar. On September 22, several film personalities met the Chief Minister in Lucknow, including filmmakers Subhash Ghai, Om Raut (director of Tanhaji), Tamil actor Rajinikanth and his daughter Soundarya, singers Kailash Kher and Udit Narayan.
NCP workers protested against UP’s Film City
NCP workers on December 2 protested against the upcoming film city in UP. They raised slogans against Yogi Adityanath, who was in Mumbai for his 2-day visit. NCP alleged that CM Yogi is trying to ‘take away’ the Film Industry from Maharashtra, and they won’t allow it at any cost. NCP leaders stated to media that Yogi is welcome in Mumbai but trying to ‘shift’ the film city from Mumbai to UP is not desirable. NCP’s Majeed Memom even claimed that Bollywood investors will not prefer to leave Mumbai.
#Aaj_Ki_Taaza_Khabar
— News18 India (@News18India) December 3, 2020
UP CM योगी आदित्यनाथ के मुम्बई दौरे का NCP ने किया विरोध.#UP #CM #Yogi #Protest #NCP #Mumbai #FilmCity @KishoreAjwani pic.twitter.com/sFutm6d6zB
However, NCP had decided that UP CM Yogi has come to ‘take away’ Bollywood’s film industry to his state and started protesting. It is not understood how they arrived at that conclusion since there are several film cities in India and there is no law to state that cinema industry investors cannot invest in another state.
‘No one can take any industry from Maharashtra’: CM Uddhav Thackeray
On December 2, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray took a jibe on UP CM Yogi Adityanath and said no one could take any industry from Maharashtra. He said, “Maharashtra is not afraid of competition, but no one can forcibly take businesses away from the state, that will not be allowed. We are not jealous about anyone’s progress, but it has to happen through fair competition.” He further added that those trying to take away the industry would fail because the ‘magnetic’ strength of Maharastra is powerful, and it will stop things from going away.
CM Yogi to meet several producers, actors, and investors
According to the reports, a UP government spokesperson said that CM Yogi would meet Subhash Ghai, Boney Kapoor, Jatin Sethi of Zee Studio, Bhushan Kumar of T-Series, Randeep Hooda, Jimmy Shergill, Komal Nahta, and Raj Kumar Santoshi, among several others, to finalize the process of setting up the Film City in the state. He will discuss what facilities should be included in the Film City to make it more attractive for the filmmakers.
‘I am making a new Film City’:CM Yogi Adityanath
Answering to Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut’s meltdown over his visit to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said that he was not taking anything away from the state of Maharashtra and that he was building a new Film City in Uttar Pradesh. Raut had warned that it is not easy to ‘shift’ the Mumbai film city to another place.
