AAP's promise to clean Yamuna a distant dream

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.

- ANUP VERMA

Considering the volume of devotees, an adequate number of ghats and appropriate arrangements are required. According to worshippers, 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 recognizable 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.