Ramlila in Varanasi: No free bus service in sight, say devotees; government disagrees

Representational purpose.

Over the past fortnight, hundreds of people from across the state have been swarming towards Varanasi’s Ram Nagar, to witness an enactment of the Ramayana at Ramlila ground, a centuries-old tradition. However, the one thing that is putting a damper on festivities is the absence of the free bus service to the venue as promised by the BJP, claim locals.

Seated on a charpoy at the Rambagh Fort gates just off the Ramlila ground, Gopal Sahni, a BJP ward president from nearby Maidagin, expresses anger at the party not keeping its promise. “The BJP seniors do not heed us. Everything is just promised but invisible on the ground. I have been reading the papers and also got an ad published in the Gandiv, a local daily. But I have not seen the bus myself. Its specially bad for the aged who have to walk for so many kilometres to reach the Ramlila,” he says.

Bablu Yadav, Sahni’s fellow traveller from Maidagin, says, “We had read in newspapers that two buses, one from Town Hall and one from BHU, would ferry devotees to Ram Nagar for free. The bus service would have helped at least 300 devotees from the two pick-up points from where more than 2000 people including Gopalji and I come.” From Maidagin, devotees have to walk around 3 km to reach the venue, he says.

Curious men join the discussion, waiting for the Ramlila procession to cross over for the ‘Bharat Manawan’ episode (when Bharat and Shatrughan arrive at Chitrakoot to plead with Ram to return). A youth, Rahul Chaurasiya, interjects and says, “The bus seva is very much on.” To this, the others say, “It was operational only for a day, when the Ramlila was flagged off.”

Devotees say they have to traverse 2 km by foot, cycle or motorcycle to reach the Ramlila ground because the Raj Ghat bridge has been closed to heavy vehicles for almost a decade now. “A free bus ride or even a bus ride for some money would have saved us a lot of expenditure,” says another youth, Ajit Kumar.

Traffic sub-inspector Ram Janam, standing at the choked BHU gate crossing from where the free buses were supposed to leave, says he knows nothing about any such service though he had seen Whatsapp messages promoting the same. “I have been here for a week but I have not seen buses leave for Ram Nagar Ramlila. No bus left today. Buses don’t go that side from here. Autorickshaws do,” he says, as his juniors at the chowk corroborate his
account.

BJP’s Kashi secretary Ashok Chaurasiya, however, said the buses were running. Varanasi Divisional Commissioner Nitin Ramesh Gokarn said, “The two buses are plying every day, ferrying roughly 45 persons in all. After dropping off passengers, the buses stand at the Ram Nagar Ramlila venue all evening and ferry back the passengers to BHU and Maidagin at night. They will be in service till the close of Ramlila. We are keeping a tab on these buses every day.”
However, a BJP youth leader, on condition of anonymity said, “To tell you the truth, there are no free buses. So no one will find them.”

At the Ramnagar Fort gate, Sahni and his friends rub their soles and shake their heads. “Kaise bataye bus ayegi ki nahi, koi bharosa hai hi naji. Adha Ramlila paar ho gaya, ab thori koi bus-wus ayegi (We don’t know whether the buses will come or not. Half the Ramlila is over, no bus will come now),” says Yadav, while the others nod solemnly.