Lucknow, Sep 8 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday asserted that the state has undergone a major transformation since 2017, moving from an era which saw 'one district, one mafia', riots, policy paralysis to one characterised by rule of law, investor confidence and rapid industrial growth.Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day UP Textile Conclave-2026, he also said that the state government was committed to creating an integrated ecosystem covering the entire textile value chain with UP becoming the state of "Unlimited Potential". "Nobody is unaware of what the situation in Uttar Pradesh was before 2017. The law and order situation had collapsed. In every district, a parallel government run by mafias operated -- it was almost like 'one district, one mafia'," Adityanath said in an apparent attack on the then Samajwadi Party government.

He alleged that murder, extortion, illegal land occupation, "goonda tax" and kidnapping had become an industry, while professional criminals and mafias operated their networks with political patronage. "Neither daughters were safe, nor traders. An investor would come from outside with the dream of doing business and return with an extortion slip. Mafias could openly roam around waving guns, operate from anywhere and, wherever they laid their hands, claim the land as their own," he said. The chief minister said the situation had also created an "identity crisis" for people from Uttar Pradesh, claiming those identifying themselves as being from the state were sometimes viewed with suspicion outside it. "Before 2017, when a person introduced himself as being from Uttar Pradesh, people used to take ten steps backwards. Festivals could not be celebrated peacefully," he said.

"Unrest would begin even before the festivities and that was a routine," he said. Recalling incidents of communal violence in Bareilly, Mathura's Kosi Kalan, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, Adityanath said prolonged curfews had shut schools, colleges and markets, adversely affecting economic activity. "If there is curfew, markets will remain closed; if markets remain closed, business will stop. When people cannot leave their homes, the economy cannot move forward," he said.He said power supply and development before 2017 were allegedly confined to "one syndicate and one family", while the state lacked an industry-friendly policy. "At that time, even imagining setting up a factory was a distant dream. If a person himself was not safe, how could a factory be safe?" he said.

Comparing the situation with the present, he said Uttar Pradesh today had "rule of law" and a "zero-tolerance policy" towards crime, criminals and corruption."Today, Uttar Pradesh is curfew-free, riot-free and mafia-free. No mafia can openly roam around in an open jeep waving a pistol. No one can dare threaten the safety of a daughter, trader or investor. If someone does, there are only two places for him? jail or hell. There is no third place," he said. The chief minister said the government had restored confidence among citizens, traders, and investors and had framed sector-specific policies to accelerate economic growth. Adityanath said the state had remained revenue-surplus for the last six years and asserted that promises made to investors were being implemented in full. "Whatever commitments and announcements we make to investors, we ensure 100 per cent implementation in Uttar Pradesh. Monitoring is done directly from the Chief Minister's Office, and I personally monitor it," he said.

According to the chief minister, the state has received investment proposals worth Rs 50 lakh crore over the last nine years, of which proposals involving Rs 15 lakh crore have reached the ground. Investment proposals worth another Rs 7.5 lakh crore are ready for implementation, he said. The government has also succeeded in providing employment to more than 65 lakh youth, he claimed."The number of large factories in Uttar Pradesh has increased from 14,000 to 35,000 in these nine years," he said. Adityanath said the government had strengthened the state's MSME ecosystem through branding initiatives such as One District One Product (ODOP) and social-security support."Uttar Pradesh today has 96 lakh MSME units, the largest network of MSMEs among all states in the country," he said.Adityanath said single-window clearances and platforms such as Nivesh Mitra, Nivesh Sarathi and Udyami Mitra were helping investors navigate the state's industrial ecosystem.

Urging participants at the conclave to deliberate on ways to strengthen the sector, Adityanath said the government would incorporate useful suggestions into its textile policy. The chief minister also launched the UP Tex Mitra portal, the Handloom Weaver Samriddhi Yojana and the Uttar Pradesh Textile Sector Training and Skill Development Scheme, besides distributing letters of comfort (LoCs) and incentives under the UP Textile Policy. During the conclave, the textile sector MoUs were signed for new investment proposals worth Rs 5,196 crore, while Letters of Comfort worth Rs 163 crore and subsidies worth Rs 60 crore were distributed, an official statement issued here later said. 

Agencies