A political storm erupted in the capital on Sunday after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had created an artificial Yamuna pond filled with filtered water for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in Chhath Puja at Vasudev Ghat.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to attend the Chhath Puja celebrations early Tuesday morning at the Vasudev Ghat area in North Delhi. Videos shared by AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj on social media show a barricaded section of the riverbank, where water has been separated from the main Yamuna channel and replaced with filtered water reportedly drawn from the Wazirabad treatment plant.
The visuals triggered a wave of reactions online, with journalists and commentators questioning the move. While television anchor Sudhir Choudhary was accused by users of “ignoring” the controversy, another anchor, Anjana Om Kashyap, publicly questioned the optics of building a “fake Yamuna” for the Prime Minister’s religious event.
AAP Calls It a ‘Deception’
AAP’s Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed the BJP was trying to “deceive the people of Bihar and Purvanchal,” who visit the Yamuna ghats during Chhath. “They have created a fake Yamuna for the Prime Minister, filled with filtered water, while devotees are left to pray in the polluted real Yamuna,” Bharadwaj said.
He accused the BJP of turning faith into propaganda. “Even if Purvanchalis die in the toxic water, the BJP’s PR campaign must continue,” he added, citing Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) data showing that the Yamuna’s water remains unsafe even for bathing.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shared the video on X and said the BJP had “mocked the sacredness of Chhath Puja.” “The Yamuna has become a stage for politics instead of devotion,” he wrote.
BJP Denies Allegations
The Delhi BJP dismissed AAP’s charges as “baseless political drama.” Party president Virendra Sachdeva said the Opposition was frustrated and objecting to cleanliness efforts at the ghats. “This is the first time an Opposition party has protested against cleaning and beautification work. The AAP banned Chhath Puja on the Yamuna between 2018 and 2024. Today, the same party is crying foul because the BJP has reopened the ghats for devotees,” he said.
Sachdeva added that under Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, “unprecedented arrangements” had been made for Chhath Puja, including lighting, sanitation, and safety at more than 1,200 ghats across Delhi. He also demanded that AAP explain “where the ₹6,500 crore meant for Yamuna cleaning has gone.”
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