BJP says govt should allow Chhath celebrations, AAP says Centre restricted festival

New Delhi: BJP leaders on Tuesday protested outside Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence against the ban on Chhath puja in public places. The Aam Aadmi

New Delhi: BJP leaders on Tuesday protested outside Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence against the ban on Chhath puja in public places. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) shot back at the BJP, saying it was the BJP-led Central government that had banned the celebrations and now the saffron party was doing politics over it.

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The party demanded immediate withdrawal of the decision and asked the government to make adequate arrangements in parks, other public places to allow the Purvanchalis to celebrate the festival.

Delhi BJP general secretary Dinesh Pratap Singh said, “The CM has allowed opening of weekly markets, malls, opening liquor shops, e-rickshaws, DTC buses with full capacity, etc. He even performed puja at Akshardham temple on Diwali. Why he is discriminating with lakhs of Purvanchalis by banning Chhath Mahaparva?”

The BJP said that the government should immediately withdraw the orders and start preparations for the festival in various parks in Delhi.

Naveen Kumar, Delhi BJP media head, said, “As an alternative to the Yamuna ghats, pits can be dug in the 2,500 parks in Delhi for people to observe Chhath Puja while maintaining social distancing.”

Meanwhile, North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash on Tuesday inspected Chhath ghats in Keshavpuram Zone. During the inspection, the mayor directed the officials to ensure facilities at Chhath ghats before the special prayers. He said that a large number of Purvanchalis reside in Delhi and Chhath is a great festival of worship and faith for the people of Purvanchal and they celebrate it with great enthusiasm. All arrangements should be made at Chhath ghats. He appealed to the Delhi government to lift the ban on Chhath Puja and issue guidelines to control crowds during the festival.

Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Durgesh Pathak on Tuesday said that it was the BJP-ruled central government that has issued guidelines to stop the celebration of Chhath puja but the same BJP is doing politics and “falsely accusing” the Kejriwal Government of not allowing the celebration.

“The celebration of Chhath Puja is a very important festival for the people of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In Delhi, there are lakhs of people who originally reside from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Every year we celebrate the Chhath Puja in Delhi, but this year due to the Covid pandemic various restrictions were imposed. The guidelines issued by the central government’s home ministry under Amit Shah have imposed several restrictions on the celebration of Chhath Puja and this is why in Delhi and in many other states Chhath Puja will not take place in public. But it is unfortunate and shameful that BJP at one side is stopping the celebration of Chhath Puja and on the other side, they are politicising the issue,” Pathak said at a press conference.

He added that the BJP at one hand has issued guidelines to stop the celebration in public but the same BJP on the other side is defaming the Delhi government by saying that the AAP government is not allowing Chhath celebration in Delhi. “This kind of politics is utterly shameful. The AAP demands that the BJP should immediately get the permission of celebrating Chhath Puja from home minister Amit Shah and the Delhi government will coordinate in the following process to ensure the celebration. The state governments right now are completely following the guidelines issued by the central government,” Pathak said.

He said that the central government is under the BJP and this is why the AAP believes that the BJP leaders should immediately change the guidelines regarding performing the puja by Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. “The AAP will meet the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and ensure the celebration but the BJP should stop politicising the issue,” Pathak stressed.

AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha said that earlier in Delhi there were only 72 places where the celebration of Chhath Puja used to take place but after the AAP government was formed, the number of ghats was increased to 1200.