UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath names new airport in Noida after PM Narendra Modi

The move was seen as an attempt to mend ties with the BJP's central leadership ahead of the Assembly elections early next year. Adityanath is widely believed to harbour ambitions of a larger national role eventually and a third consecutive term as chief minister in the immediate future

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday announced his government's decision to name the newly inaugurated Noida international airport after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The move was seen as an attempt to mend ties with the BJP's central leadership ahead of the Assembly elections early next year. Adityanath is widely believed to harbour ambitions of a larger national role eventually and a third consecutive term as chief minister in the immediate future. There have been murmurs for long about Adityanath being a potential rival to Union home minister Amit Shah in the race to succeed Modi.

The airport is the second major public asset to be named after Modi. In February 2021, the Gujarat government renamed Ahmedabad's Motera cricket stadium as Narendra Modi Stadium.

In an unusual move, Adityanath personally announced the state cabinet's decision to rename the airport, underscoring the political significance attached to the renaming. He said the move marked 25 years of Modi's public life and was an expression of the state government's gratitude to the Prime Minister for his "guidance and contribution" to Uttar Pradesh's development.

"The council of ministers of Uttar Pradesh expresses its gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving the state the Noida international airport at Jewar. The cabinet has approved a proposal to name it Narendra Modi International Airport, Noida-Jewar," Adityanath told reporters.

Lavishing praise on Modi, the chief minister said Uttar Pradesh took pride in the fact that the Prime Minister represented the state in Parliament. Under Modi's leadership, Adityanath said, the state had entered a "new phase of development", with heritage conservation and infrastructure expansion progressing together.

The repeated expressions of gratitude to Modi were read as an attempt to woo the party's leadership, without whose active cooperation Adityanath's ambition to win a record third term and a larger national role would be difficult to realise.

BJP insiders said Adityanath needed the firm backing of the party and the wider Sangh Parivar's organisational support to undercut the accumulated anti-incumbency of two terms.

"The party organisation is dominated by Modi and Shah. The party's top decision-making body -- the parliamentary board -- will only clear Adityanath's name for a third term if the BJP wins the polls," a BJP leader said.

Although Modi repeatedly describes himself as a man on a "mission" rather than driven by "personal ambition", his tenure has witnessed a growing cult of personality around him, evoking comparisons with the Congress under former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The naming of major public assets after a living leader has been a notable feature of both periods. In 1982, the indoor stadium built in Delhi to host the Asian Games was named after Indira while she was Prime Minister. A multipurpose sports ground in Vijayawada was named after her in 1969 following her visit to the city, while a park in Hyderabad was also christened after her in 1978.