Delhi Opposition leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri dares Arvind Kejriwal to take dip in Yamuna during Chhath Puja

Before the 2020 Assembly polls, Kejriwal said that if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was re-elected, his government would make the Yamuna river so clean that residents of the national capital could take a dip in it. Bidhuri said the Yamuna will continue to have a toxic white foam floating on its surface as the government could not work on any plan to clean the river.

He said it is a “matter of great shame” that the Delhi government was even unable to provide clean water to the devotees.

Earlier, after according his approval to celebrate the Chhath Puja at designated ghats on the Yamuna, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena asked Kejriwal to stop “misleading and premature publicity” and ensure clean ghats and water for devotees.

Kejriwal on October 21 tweeted, “Chhath puja will be celebrated as before on the ghats of the Yamuna. Orders have been given to all the officers that all arrangements will be made to ensure that Yamuna is not polluted.”

यमुना के घाटों पर पहले की तरह छठ पूजा मनायी जायेगी। सभी अधिकारियों को आदेश दिये गये हैं कि यमुना प्रदूषित ना हो, ये सुनिश्चित करने के लिए सभी प्रबंध किए जाएँगे।

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 21, 2022

Chhath Puja is tied to politics in the national capital as it is one of the major festivals of the Purvanchalis, who constitute more than 30 per cent of the city’s population. People from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are believed to be in the majority in 16 of 70 Assembly seats in the capital, as per a survey of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Delhi government and BJP leaders in charge of the municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) used to spend large sums of money to prepare the Chhath ghats.

With Covid-19 under control, the authorities and the government have once again allocated resources for the festival.