Aviral Ganga: Satyagraha puts Modi government to test

Last month, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar again wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the agony of the Ganga. A few years ago, he had invited the doyen of environmental engineering, GD Agarwal. Also referred to as Sananda, he breathed his last while he was on an indefinite fast on October 11, 2018, for an aviral Ganga.

Aviralta Bin Ganga Nirmal Nahi (The Ganga is not clean unless flowing freely) has been one of the rallying slogans for the movement. Sadhvi Padmavati, initially known as Saniya, joined the Ganga crusaders' brigade at Matri Sadan in Haridwar. A week after, the Bihar CM requested the PM to look into her case and the state’s actions under Section 309 of the IPC. Hundreds of crores of tax-payers’ money have been spent in brainstorming sessions with experts and activists by the Modi government.

Last winter, on December 15, the Ganga Putri committed to fasting like Nigamananda and Sananda. After six weeks, she was sent to the Doon Hospital and returned the next day after medical examinations. Meanwhile, the other inmate, who was already on fasting, started anshan in her absence. Now the two are on anshan.

If the political leadership is not ready to respond, the two are bound to oscillate between the Ashram and the hospital. The default of this political crisis in the state administration is this pendulum like situation. The air is cold, but clear. This kind of Satyagraha is an attempt to suicide. The Ashram's inmates have been fasting for more than a couple of decades, a number of lawmakers have approached them earlier like Kumar.

But still this issue is yet to be raised in Parliament. However, the Supreme Court had once expressed its views in Agarwal’s case, denouncing the colonial approach of the police.

The Ganga Putri has achieved something her predecessors had failed at just after 111 days of fasting. Recently, the Nalanda MP visited her with another JDU leader, Sanjay Jha, to convey the CM's message. The wise decision is to give more attention to their requests.

If the chief ministers of the states in the Ganga Basin fail to decipher the meaning of aviral Ganga today, they will be doing a great disservice to the nation.

Last year, one day, I went to thank AAP leader Sanjay Singh who spoke about G.D. Agarwal’s Satyagraha in the Upper House. And before that, Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter to the seer to reassert his father’s views on the holy river.

If these leaders help build a greater consensus for the Ganga that represents the soul of the soil since old times, the dream of aviral Ganga can be realised. An alliance across party lines can be fruitful if it finds a meaningful solution to the burning crisis through dialogue.

The Modi government has to show real seriousness now. It is a test for the Modi sarkar.

(The writer is the author of The Holy Ganga (Rupa, 2008), Managing Editor of Panchayat Sandesh. His column, Across The Lines, appears in vernacular publications. Follow the Author on Twitter @MrKKjha)