Chhath Puja: 2 BJP MPs visit Yamuna as political slugfest intensifies

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), headed by Delhi lieutenant governor, on September 30 barred the festival in public places.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up attack on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi over the Chhath Puja celebrations as two party MPs visited Yamuna ghats on Monday and criticised the state government for “prohibiting” prayers along the river banks even as deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia announced 800 spots have been prepared for the devotees besides other arrangements for the biggest festival of the Purvanchalis.

BJP MP Parvesh Verma during a cleanliness drive on the banks of Yamuna river at ITO in New Delhi on November 8. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), headed by Delhi lieutenant governor, on September 30 barred the festival in public places. However, the agency revised the order on October 28, and allowed the celebrations but stated that puja should not be observed along the river banks.

West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma and Northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari visited various ghats on Monday to assess the situation and plan for arrangements for the festival. Referring to the high level of pollutants in the river, the two MPs said that the Kejriwal government stands exposed on its false promise of “cleaning the river”.

Tiwari, who visited the ghats at Kalindi Kunj and Sonia Vihar on Monday, said the Supreme Court should take suo motu cognisance of the situation, pointing to the thick layer of toxic foam in the river at Kalindi Kunj.

Verma, the MP from West Delhi, performed puja at the ITO ghat on Monday and said all necessary arrangements will be made for the puja on the ghat on November 10, despite DDMA’s order.

“The government should have put forward a proposal assuring the DDMA that all necessary arrangements, including Covid related protocols, will be put in place at the ghats. Earlier too, the government remained silent on the ban on Chhath puja celebrations. It is only after BJP raised the issue that the CM wrote to the LG,” said Verma.

He added, “The CM should have got the entire Delhi administration to make elaborate arrangements for the festival. He doesn’t want people to celebrate this festival. But now we will make arrangements at the ITO ghat for the puja on November 10.”

Northeast Delhi MP Tiwari, BJP’s Purvanchal face, has been vocal against the DDMA’s initial ban on Chhath puja in September, claiming that the festival was singled out even as Durga puja and Dussehra celebrations were allowed in the Capital. He has held protests against the ban.

With municipal elections scheduled next year, the BJP is trying to woo the community that played an important role in AAP’s victory in assembly elections in 2015 and 2020.

“Delhiites are breathing poisonous air and the water is polluted too. This is what Kejriwal has given in return to people for their support in assembly elections. They are not just playing with religious sentiments of people, but with people’s lives too… The permission for Chhath puja was denied at the banks of Yamuna as this would have exposed the government,” said Tiwari, adding that the puja should be organised at ghats, like in Sonia Vihar, where the water is clean.

Chhath Puja is a community festival that involves worshipping the Sun and taking dip in a water body. It is popular among people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand -- collectively called the Purvanchal region. People from these states form more than one-third of Delhi’s current population of around 20 million, according to government estimates and migration data from Census 2011.