Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray sounded skeptical of those who took a holy dip in Ganga during the recently-held Mahakumbh Mela at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh while questioning the cleanliness of the Ganga river.
He said that people thought that the Ganga was cleaned but some people who returned from Prayagraj had complained that they were unwell. He even refused to drink Ganga water brought by party activists.
“Not a single river in the country is clean. The country has just come out of the Corona disease. People were walking around with a mask on their face for two years but they had gone there to take a bath. But no one wants to look into this issue seriously as people in a large number took a holy bath at the Kumbh Mela. Understand the difference between faith and superstition. Come out of superstition a little, shake your head,” he said in his address at the party meeting on occasion of party’s foundation day today.
“Even our Bala Nandgaonkar had gone to the Kumbh. On his way back, he brought some Ganga water for me in a small kamandalu. When he gave it to me, I said, I will not drink this water,” he said.
“It was okay in the past. But now I see on social media, people who have been there… many were rubbing their armpits with that water. Does faith have any meaning or not? Not a single river is clean in this country. We call the river Mother. When we go abroad, we see clean rivers there. We have all the polluted water on the river. I have been hearing since Rajiv Gandhi’s time that Ganga will be cleaned. Raj Kapoor had also made a film on it. People thought that the Ganga was clean. People said that if there is such a Ganga, we are also ready to bathe in it. But Ganga is still not clean,” he said.
”Till now, I have inaugurated many swimming pools. Initially, they were blue, but over time, those swimming pools turned green. All polluted water is released into our rivers. River cleanliness is a key issue,” he said.
The BJP, meanwhile, has reacted sharply against Raj Thackeray’s swipe saying that everyone should respect the faith of Hinduism.
BJP legislator Ram Kadam said: “I myself have taken holy bath three times with my family at the Kumbh Mela. Many leaders, actors, industrialists, saints and saints all went to that place for holy bath. Nearly 57 crore people from all over the country came to that confluence. The water there was clean. Therefore, it is wrong for those who have not gone there and by sitting at home making the statement that the Ganga water is unclean.”
He further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is trying to clean the rivers.
Till now there were lakhs of factories and sewer outlets in the Ganga River. Now they have been reduced considerably but the work is still in progress.
“The rivers should be cleaned. But, taking a holy bath in the Sangam is completely a part of faith. Therefore, before making allegations on this, everyone should respect the faith of Sanatan Hinduism,” he added.
Another BJP legislator Praveen Darekar also shot back, saying that Raj Thackeray’s statement is insulting to the faithful devotees.
“Raj Thackeray’s statement is insulting to the faithful devotees. Hindus believe in gods and goddesses, that’s why we respect even stones. We should not insult the faith of others. We also agree on the issue of cleanliness. Since Rajiv Gandhi till date, rivers have not been cleaned, but the Congress is being blamed for the same,” he added.
Darekar said that the government is working to prevent river pollution saying that “good things should be appreciated. Kumbh Mela is a tradition of hundreds of thousands of years”.