UP gets girls' college named after Aishwarya Bachchan

The land where the Bollywood Shahanshah was once involved in a land-dispute, would never forgot Amitabh Bachchan and his family because of opening of a college for girls on January 27 at Daulatpur-the village 25 km form Lucknow, in the name of his bahu Aishwarya.

After a deep and careful thought the venue selected was Daulatpur, an unremarkable village in Barabanki, which suddenly had come into light after Bachchan got into a legal tangle over a gram sabha plot, in 2007.

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Turning a controversy into an advantage, Bachchan laid the foundation stone of Shrimati Aishwarya Bachchan Kanya Mahavidyalaya on the 3.5 acres of land bought deliberately for the purpose.

The day coincided with the Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh’s 52nd birthday. Just a week ago the state overwhelmed on her Chief Minister’s birthday, when she too had turned 52.

Giving hosannas on the occasion were four former CMs — Mulayam Singh, Om Prakash Chautala, Farooq Abdullah, and Chandrababu Naidu apart, of course, from "brother" Amitabh Bachchan, with his family while thousands of villagers cheered them on.

The conspicuous absence of business tycoon Subrata Roy further made strong the impression of increasing gulf between him and Amar Singh. Some days ago at a function at Saharashahar in Lucknow Badshah Shahrukh Khan and Rajiv Shukla got preference over Amar Singh and Shahanshah Bachchan.

Aishwarya Bachchan, clad in pink sari took the dais soon after husband Abhishek sent a ripple of laughter through the audience when he addressed her as “Aishwaryaji” in his three-line speech. He did not try to speak much for the day was to speak by her wife.

Mrs. young Bachchan expressed her heart in sensible words, when she said, “It was my dream to open a school here but I was briefly not open to having it named after me. There are big names in my family — my grandfather-in-law Harivansh Rai Bachchan, grandmother-in-law Teji Bachchan. But when I was explained the reasons for using my name, I agreed.”

“When the idea of starting a school first occurred to us last year, we thought of your name because you are a bahu of Uttar Pradesh. We want beautiful, educated women like you to walk in as brides in all homes of Uttar Pradesh,” explained mother-in-law Jaya Bachchan on asking why the college had been named Aishwarya Bachchan Kanya Mahavidyalaya.

“I am often asked what relation I have with UP when I don’t stay here. But don’t forget I was born here. Seven generations of my family were born and have died here. It is true I lived in Calcutta and now live in Mumbai but wherever I stay, I will always belong to UP. Whatever I can I will do for this state,” Amitabh said, who was keen to mend his image malign by the court battle over purchasing farmland.

Mulayam Singh said each and every girl of our state should be educated and employed, if she wanted. The UNPA chairman said that the development witnessed in Uttar Pradesh during his Chief Ministerial ships would not have been possible without Amar Singh’s initiative.

The actress-turned politician Jaya Prada’s Nishtha Foundation will run the college and be helped by Amar Singh.