BJP built ‘fake Yamuna’ with filtered water for PM Modi’s Chhath Puja ritual: AAP

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Delhi government of creating a “fake Yamuna” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ceremonial dip during Chhath Puja, Scroll reported.

The Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said the artificial pond was filled with filtered water, rather than cleaning the actual Yamuna River.

AAP leader reportedly said that authorities set up the artificial water body to project clean environment for the Prime Minister’s ritual.

The allegation has been raised just as PM Modi is to take part in the Hindu festival Chhath Puja at the Vasudev Ghat in northern Delhi on Tuesday.

Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that filtered water was sourced from the Wazirabad treatment plant pipeline that supplies drinking water to Delhi.

Calling what he said an attempt to ‘fool the public and deceive devotees from Bihar and Purvanchal who come for Chhath’, Bharadwaj said while PM Modi takes dip in ‘Fake Yamuna’, devotee will have to engage in rituals in polluted river.

Citing Delhi Pollution Control Committee report, he said that bathing in Yamuna could cause serious health issues, accusing the BJP administration of ‘risking people’s health and faith for Bihar votes’.

Dismissing the AAP leader’s allegation, the BJP termed it an act of “political frustration”, The Indian Express reported.

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that when in power the AAP had banned Chhath Puja on the banks of the Yamuna River between 2018 and 2024.

The party according to him is now ‘creating a hue and cry’ as the BJP administration opened the natural ghats for devotees.

Celebrated mostly in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, Chhath is a festival of devotees worshiping the sun standing in water bodies.

Meanwhile, residents of Trilokpuri in Delhi gathered at a traffic signal on Sunday protesting against the lack of water at Vasundhara Ghat ahead of Chhath Puja rituals.