Yogi Adityanath, 48,
has done what many observers of Uttar Pradesh politics thought impossible – he has
won India’s biggest state with an overwhelming majority after running a
government for five years. In 2017, when the BJP swept to power in UP,
Adityanath was sprung as a surprise. Five years later, Ajay Singh Bisht has
turned into the Most Valuable Player for his party.

Among the many
thresholds this monk-turned-chief minister has broken, is also the Noida jinx.
Ending one of the weirdest superstitions surrounding UP politics, Yogi
Adityanath is set to return to the chief minister’s seat despite having visited
Noida.

What is the
Noida jinx?

The Noida jinx is
a long-held superstition in UP politics. The belief goes that if a sitting
chief minister visits Noida, then s/he is not re-elected to the CM post in the
subsequent elections. The roots of the Noida jinx go back to the late 1980s
when two chief ministers – Vir Bahadur Singh and ND Tiwari – had to leave their
chief ministerial chairs in quick succession after visiting Noida.

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Since then,
several UP chief ministers have steered clear of visiting Noida, including Rajnath
Singh, the current Union Defence Minister, when he was chief minister of Uttar
Pradesh. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati have also avoided visiting Noida.

The writing
on the wall

The 2022 Assembly
elections were supposed to be the polls when the Noida jinx ended. This is
because the two primary contenders for the CM post – Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi
Party’s Akhilesh Yadav – had vote visited Noida prior to the elections.

Akhilesh, 48,
following his father’s footsteps decided to not visit Noida for years. During
his first term as chief minister, Akhilesh did not attend the Asian Development
Bank summit, because it was in Noida. However, a couple of weeks prior to the
elections, Yadav did visit Noida to campaign.

Adityanath,
however, has never entertained the superstition. He has visited the region
several times. Now, having run a successful campaign, Adityanath is set to
return as the chief minister India’s most populous state. Just as the monk
takes oath again, the Noida jinx will end.