UP CM's efforts to build a parallel film city results in war of words between Shiv Sena and BJP leaders

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s efforts to build a parallel film city in the state led to a war of words between the Shiv Sena and BJP leaders while the UP CM was in Mumbai on Wednesday and met nearly 40 film personalities to seek suggestions for the planned 1,000-acre facility near Noida.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who had been in the news earlier this year for his spat with actress Kangana Ranaut, hit out at Adityanath saying, “It’s not easy to shift Mumbai’s film city to another place. The film industry in south India is also big; there are film cities in West Bengal and Punjab too. Will Yogi ji also visit these places and talk to directors/artistes there or is he going to do so only in Mumbai?"

He also asked what the status of the Noida film city already existing in the state was.

“It is difficult to replicate Mumbai’s film industry elsewhere. Mumbai has a glorious film history and past,” he said.

In response to Raut’s comments, Adityanath told media persons in Mumbai, “We are not taking anything away; we are only bringing up something new. Why are you getting perturbed. We are offering world-class infrastructure and facilities. One has to think big and offer major facilities – those who are able to do so, will attract the industry.”

Earlier in the day, UP’s minorities minister Mohsin Raza had slammed the Shiv Sena saying it had given the industry to the underworld and was now pressurising it to stay in Maharashtra. “Unlike Maharashtra, there is no torture here,” he had said.

The BJP government in UP and the Shiv Sena, which severed its ties with the BJP over the formation of government in Maharashtra in November 2019, have sparred several times this year over issues including the Palghar lynching and the Centre’s sudden imposition of lockdown from March 25 which robbed millions of migrant workers of their livelihoods.