NEW DELHI: The city houses a large number of Poorvanchalis (eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) who actively participate in the Chhath festival, which comes a week after Diwali every year.
Considering the volume of devotees, an adequate number of ghats and appropriate arrangements are required. According to worshipers, Chhath is viewed as a festival of purity. But politics takes over the impurity of Yamuna River—toxic and enveloped in froth— where thousands gather to offer prayers and take a holy dip.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which took the reins of the city from Congress in 2014 and keeps a tight hold by reducing the opposition BJP to single digits in the 70-member Assembly, has tried to make the festival more vibrant and recognisable by declaring a public holiday and setting up artificial ghats at the various corners of the city. It has also been blaming the opposition-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for releasing toxic waste into the Yamuna river.
However, it also finds itself in a difficult situation when the opposition, BJP and Congress, tries to corner it over allegedly failing to clean the Yamuna river despite being a part of the electoral promise.
Among all these, the devotees suffer as they are forced to tolerate and accept the polluted water. Moreover, several remain unsatisfied even with the arrangements made by the government, calling them inadequate.
“Every year, we participate in puja, but we avoid going to ghats due to inadequate facilities. We perform puja and other rituals on the house roof instead. The sordid state of affairs is that neither the state authorities nor the city government have ever taken this festival seriously. We cannot take a dip on Yamuna due to pollution, and to avoid embarrassment, agencies either ban performing the puja or put conditions,” says Archana Shrivastava, a devotee living in the Badarpur area.
Kislay Chaudhary, a poorvanchali living in the Laxmi Nagar area, says that lots of people, whether devotees or not, reach Yamuna ghats but become a part of mismanagement and chaos. Politicians usually do photo ops and leave the place, but the devotees face various problems. There should be some accountability of officials or departments as a large capital city population takes part in this mahaparv.
In an interview with Dinesh Pratap Singh, Delhi BJP vice-president and a Poorvanchali leader, Anup Verma discusses the various aspects concerning the Chhath Puja. Excerpts.
What is the controversy surrounding the Chhath Ghats?
The AAP-led city government is doing politics over the festival, causing hardships for the devotees. Sometimes, the government puts restrictions; at other times, it does not allow devotees to perform the puja at ghats along the Yamuna River, citing various reasons, including the NGT ban. This time again, the government is leaving no stone unturned to do petty politics. No adequate arrangements have been made at any Chhath ghats in the city. Permission has been granted for small ghats for the AAP workers.
Yamuna river cleaning has been a key issue related to Chhath celebrations. Your comments?
The AAP has totally failed to clean Yamuna river. Even after 10 years of rule, the government is making excuses which is very unfortunate. The city government claims to have spent crores of rupees on Yamuna cleaning, but the ground reality is quite different. At one point, Kejriwal had promised that people would be able to take a holy dip in the river. It seems a distant dream now, seeing the level of pollution.
How are Purvanchali leaders and your party (BJP) helping the devotees?
Our senior party leaders, MPs, MLAs, and councillors have actively participated in Chhath ghat preparations. A delegation of BJP leaders recently met L-G V K Saxena to seek his support. Our effort is clearly visible on the ground..
Delhi has a sizable population of Purvanchalis. Will the controversy related to Chhath impact upcoming elections?
Purvanchalis have always supported a good cause and are ready to teach lessons to the AAP this time. The city government is ignoring them. Arvind Kejriwal (former Delhi chief minister) has been against them. Earlier, on many occasions, he has targeted them. For these reasons, he will face a defeat this time.