The same Yamuna River that Arvind Kejriwal had accused the BJP-led Haryana government of poisoning during the Delhi election campaign—Rekha Gupta, the newly appointed Chief Minister of Delhi, performed an Aarti on its banks before assuming office on Friday. Early in the morning, Rekha Gupta offered prayers at the Yamuna’s Basudev Ghat and then directly proceeded to the Secretariat to attend her first cabinet meeting. Given former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s comments, her Aarti is being seen as a symbolic gesture.
Meanwhile, Yamuna pollution had emerged as a major issue in the Delhi elections. The AAP and BJP had engaged in a blame game over the river’s contamination during their campaigns. Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that the BJP-led Haryana government deliberately polluted the Yamuna to disrupt Delhi’s water supply.
The Delhi administration took immediate action to prevent a severe crisis for the city’s residents. In response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi countered Kejriwal’s allegations by claiming that he himself drinks Yamuna water. Even in Modi’s congratulatory speech following the BJP’s victory in Delhi, the issue of Yamuna’s water was prominently mentioned.
It is undeniable that the Yamuna River is highly polluted. The remains of cremations from riverside crematoriums, thousands of people washing clothes in its waters, and the disposal of cow dung and other waste directly into the river are all visibly contributing to the pollution. In such circumstances, how the BJP-led Delhi government plans to clean up the Yamuna remains to be seen. Naturally, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s Yamuna Aarti has garnered significant public attention.