The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has exposed the BJP’s grand show around Chhath Puja and Yamuna cleaning, calling it an election stunt ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls. Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said the BJP’s sudden devotion is driven by fear of losing votes, as Arvind Kejriwal has set a benchmark they cannot ignore.
The AAP Delhi Unit Chief revealed that the party has deceived Purvanchalis with false claims of cleaning the Yamuna, where toxic foam still floats despite chemical sprays. Taking a sharp dig, he added that after accusing the AAP of taking commissions for tents during the Kanwar Yatra, the BJP is now following the same system — “so has it started taking commissions itself?”
Addressing a press conference along with senior AAP leaders Sanjeev Jha and Vinay Mishra, the AAP Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj stated, “The BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 30 years. It has also governed Maharashtra, where a large number of Purvanchali brothers and sisters live—almost as many as in Delhi. Yet, the BJP never made such efforts for Chhath Puja in those states as it is doing in Delhi today. There are two main reasons behind this.”
The AAP Delhi Unit Chief elaborated, “First, Arvind Kejriwal has drawn such a long line of good governance that if the BJP stops these Chhath Puja arrangements the way it shut down Mohalla Clinics, it will face consequences in the Bihar elections within two weeks and lose votes. Second, the BJP is lying to the people of Delhi by claiming that it has cleaned the Yamuna, whereas the pollution and foam in the Yamuna remain exactly the same.”
Displaying a video of the Yamuna taken around 5:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Three days ago, CM Rekha Gupta went to the Yamuna and ordered the spraying of a defoaming agent, declaring that the river had been cleaned. AAP had said even then that they hadn’t cleaned the Yamuna—they had only cleaned the foam. This is the same chemical that the AAP government used earlier, for which the BJP had accused us of poisoning the river. Despite the spraying of chemicals, the foam is still clearly visible in the Yamuna.”
“The BJP is cheating Delhiites in two ways. First, they are spraying the same chemical they earlier called poison. Second, their bigger deceit is a grave sin—they have been dishonest with the Purvanchali community for the past 10–11 years. The BJP’s politics stoops to such a low level that it’s hard to imagine. For years, they conspired to deprive Purvanchalis of celebrating Chhath along the Yamuna. Every year before Chhath, additional water used to be released from Haryana’s Hathnikund Barrage into the Yamuna, which diluted the polluted water from the Najafgarh drain, reduced pollution, and made the water suitable enough for the festival,” he asserted.
Explaining the political conspiracy behind it, Saurabh Bharadwaj added, “This continued even under Arvind Kejriwal’s government for a few years. But after BJP’s new Lieutenant Governor Vinai Saxena took charge, he conspired with the BJP government of Haryana to stop the release of Yamuna water every year. The only purpose was to reduce the water level, increase pollution from the Najafgarh drain, and cause more foam so that Purvanchali brothers and sisters could not celebrate Chhath on the Yamuna banks. This shows the BJP’s dirty mindset.”
“I have shown a PDF that clearly states how much water from the Hathnikund Barrage goes into the canals of Uttar Pradesh and how much into the Yamuna. From Tuesday, the BJP has set the canal flow to zero. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh won’t get water, but to push their propaganda, they have diverted all the water into the Yamuna. The Eastern Canal has dried up, while the Yamuna will appear to flow fully. It takes three days for this water to reach Delhi, so by Thursday morning, the Yamuna will look clean. Then they will spray the defoaming agent again to remove the foam. This is the BJP’s conspiracy,” he revealed.
Referring to BJP’s earlier criticism of AAP-led Delhi government’s religious event management, AAP Delhi Unit President added, “Before setting up Kanwar camps this year, the BJP held multiple press conferences accusing the Arvind Kejriwal government of taking commissions for tent installations. They claimed this was a huge corruption scam, and so they would not repeat it. Instead, they said they would implement a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme—directly transferring money to Kanwar camp organisers so they could arrange tents and lights themselves.”
“But within three months, the BJP realised that only Arvind Kejriwal knows how to run a government. They understood that Kejriwal was right. Now, like Arvind Kejriwal’s government, they are again arranging tents, lights, and sound systems directly with vendors. They have rolled back the DBT scheme after trying it once. So, have the BJP leaders now become corrupt? Or are they now receiving commissions? Three months ago, they were hurling abuses calling this corruption—so why are they doing the same thing now? This exposes their double standards and hypocrisy,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, AAP MLA and Chief Whip in the Delhi Assembly, Sanjeev Jha, highlighted BJP’s neglect of Purvanchalis across states, stating, “The BJP is in power in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Gujarat—states with large Purvanchali populations. Yet, no financial support is given for Chhath Puja there. Even in Delhi, when the BJP was in power in 1993, not a single site received grants for Chhath celebrations. The Congress government gave support at only 60 locations. It was only after the AAP came to power that around 1,000 sites across Delhi began receiving grants and full facilities for Chhath Puja. The Arvind Kejriwal government not only provided financial support but also arranged tents, lights, ambulances, doctors, cameras, security, and sanitation.”
He continued, “CM Rekha Gupta has announced that her government will build one model ghat in every district. But under the AAP government, every assembly constituency had a model Chhath ghat. If the BJP is organising grand events, why has it reduced the number of ghats from 70 constituencies to just 12? Until 2019, the Delhi government conducted Chhath Puja along the Yamuna with lakhs of devotees. During the COVID-19 period in 2021, while the festival was held across the country on the banks of the Ganga and Yamuna, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) stopped it in Delhi.”
Showing a letter from 2021, Sanjeev Jha shared, “The then CM Arvind Kejriwal had written to the Lieutenant Governor stating that people of Delhi celebrate Chhath Puja with deep faith. This festival is part of our Vedic culture and is believed to bring health, prosperity, and happiness. Since COVID-19 had been under control for three months, he suggested allowing Chhath with COVID protocols, as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan had done.”
“But the Lieutenant Governor, who was the chairperson of the DDMA, refused and stopped the festival. Since then, the DDMA has been halting Chhath Puja on the Yamuna every year. Now, the BJP government has granted permission, but in their vendetta against AAP, they have taken revenge even on the faith of Purvanchalis and the great festival of Chhath,” he asserted.
Condemning the BJP’s hypocrisy, the AAP MLA added, “Our scriptures say that anyone who obstructs Puja is a demon. The BJP calls itself the protector of Sanatan Dharma, so I ask Rekha Gupta and BJP leaders—why are they not taking responsibility for depriving Purvanchalis of Puja at Yamuna ghat for the past five to six years? Their political conduct proves that for them, Sanatan Dharma is nothing but a tool for gaining power.”
He asked, “How can a true Sanatani create obstacles in Chhath Puja? Only a demon would do that. For five years, they stopped Purvanchalis from celebrating their festival. The Aam Aadmi Party demands that the Rekha Gupta government, like Arvind Kejriwal’s government, should make full arrangements at all 1,000 ghats—tents, lights, ambulances, security, and cleanliness—so that no devotee faces any problem. Chhath Puja should not fall victim to BJP’s dirty politics.”
Exposing BJP’s duplicity on law and order, Sanjeev Jha said, “The BJP says that during previous governments, FIRs (First Information Reports) were filed against those who performed puja along the Yamuna and that their government will now withdraw them. But the Delhi Police reports to the Central Government. These people are vile and deceitful. In 2021–22–23, BJP MPs themselves led people to perform puja and then got FIRs filed through their own police. Now they say they will withdraw them. This shows their filthy mindset. I only hope that this year’s Chhath Puja does not fall prey to their dirty politics and mentality.”
Senior AAP leader and former MLA Vinay Mishra said, “The BJP’s hatred for Purvanchalis is not new—it runs deep in their history. A former BJP Mayor once wrote a letter saying people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar should be stopped from coming to Delhi because of their ‘crude behaviour’ and that they ‘create filth’ in the city. In Maharashtra, Purvanchalis appearing for exams were beaten and sent back. BJP leader Vijay Jolly even proposed that students from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh should not be given admission to Delhi University because it reduced seats for local students. This hatred for Purvanchalis is ingrained in their DNA. The BJP’s new Delhi government is only pretending to care.”
Recalling earlier practices under the Arvind Kejriwal government, he added, “I remember that before every Chhath Puja, a meeting was held under the Chief Minister’s chairmanship. All Chhath committees were called to the Secretariat, the Divisional Commissioner was present, and the Chief Minister personally discussed preparations for the grand celebration. I recall one such meeting where Sanjeev Jha and I were present.”
“Sanjeev Jha strongly raised the demand to allow Chhath Puja along the Yamuna, and I supported it. But the then Divisional Commissioner refused, saying he had instructions from the Lieutenant Governor not to permit it. The LG was from the BJP, and the Ministry of Home Affairs was also under them. Today, they are shedding crocodile tears and pretending to care for Purvanchalis—they have no love for them,” he emphasised.
Pointing to similar hypocrisy beyond the Yamuna, Vinay Mishra said, “These examples are not limited to the Yamuna. In Dwarka assembly constituency, Chhath Puja used to take place along the forest line before 2020. The BJP stopped it citing the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order. Now, the same BJP is restarting it. They harassed Purvanchalis for years and are now pretending to care. I want to tell CM Rekha Gupta not to think we are fools. Make grand arrangements like Arvind Kejriwal did. Build model ghats in every constituency and fulfil all demands of Chhath committees and devotees. The government should provide them with all necessary facilities.”
