Raj Thackeray Was Offered Water From Kumbh. How He Reacted

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News Desk
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Mumbai:

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray raked up the ‘pollution in the Ganga’ row on Sunday after he said he declined to drink water from the river – which practicing Hindus believe is holy – due to medical concerns, pointing to reports of people falling ill after bathing in or drinking it.

Addressing party workers in Mumbai, he said MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar had travelled to the recently-concluded Maha Kumbh in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj and brought back some water from the ‘sangam‘, or the holy confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna (and mythical Saraswati) rivers.

However. Mr Thackeray – part of the BJP-led alliance at the centre – said he refused the water.

“During our recent gathering in Mumbai, some office bearers were absent. When I asked why… some cited attending the Maha Kumbh. I asked them, ‘Why indulge in so many sins that you need to wash them away in the Ganga’? he was quoted in a report by The Times of India.

“Then some people told me they are unwell (after having) returned from the Maha Kumbh. Our Bala Nandgaonkar had gone to the Kumbh. On his way back, he brought some Ganga water for me… but when he gave it to me, I said, ‘I will not drink this water’…” Mr Thackeray said.

Mr Thackeray said he did not want to drink the water – which Hindus believe will cleanse the body and spirit of sins – because he does not think it is sanitary. “How can the Ganges remain clean after so many people have taken baths in it? We call our rivers ‘mother’, but we don’t keep them clean.”

Mr Thackeray’s comments were also picked up by the opposition; Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi demanded a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, both of which are BJP-ruled states.

“Prime Minister, Home Minister, and chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra should answer this because the BJP is a friend of Raj Thackeray…” she told reporters outside Parliament.

Raj Thacerkay’s comments follow a row last month about high levels of faecal coliform bacteria – a marker of sewage and human organic waste – in water from the Ganga and Yamuna. “A large number of people bathe during Maha Kumbh… which increases faecal concentration,” the study said.

READ | High Faecal Bacteria In River At Maha Kumbh Locations: Pollution Board

The report was submitted by the Central Pollution Control Board to the National Green Tribunal.

However, 24 hours later UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath rejected the report and declared that water from the ‘sangam’ is “fit for drinking”. The Chief Minister didn’t then offer evidence to rebut the report, but accused the opposition of preventing the BJP from conducting the Maha Kumbh.

Less than a week later, a professor from Prayagraj’s Allahabad University questioned the CPCB report, claiming data mismatch and exaggerated inferences from faecal coliform levels.

READ | Ganga Water Fit For Dip At Sangam: Allahabad University Prof

And, last week the CPCB dismissed its own report, claiming “variability in data”, referring to water samples collected from various locations along the river bank at different times and on different days.

The water, this new report declared, is fit for bathing.

Concerns over pollution in the Ganga and Yamuna – particularly regarding untreated sewage from multiple drains – have been flagged frequently by activists and the NGT, and were an issue during the recent Maha Kumbh, during which, according to the Uttar Pradesh government, nearly 60 crore people (i.e., nearly half of India’s population) bathed in and/or drank the water.

With input from agencies

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