Ganga belongs to everyone: Maurya

Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Thursday said cleanliness of the Ganga was the responsibility of both the government and the society.

“The Ganga does not belong to any caste, or religion, but to everyone,” he said at a public meeting in Kannauj on the fourth day of the Ganga yatra.

Lashing out at Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, he said if Yadav had welcomed the Ganga yatra in Kannauj, then the people there would have greeted him, but he lost the opportunity.

The purpose of the yatra was to make the river clean and ever-flowing, the deputy chief minister said, adding that the state government planned to promote organic farming on the riverbank.

Ganga parks, along with Ganga talab, would be constructed in villages along the riverbank, he said.

Attacking the Opposition, Maurya said those who did not have feelings for the Ganga were questioning the yatra.

The Opposition was upset after Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed Article 370 and got Parliament to pass the Citizenship Amendment Act, he added.

“The opposition is in pain when our Army carries out surgical strikes against terror camps in Pakistan,” he said.

Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change Babul Supriyo said previous governments had taken no concrete steps to free the Ganga from pollution.

But the BJP governments led by Modi at the Centre and the Yogi government in UP were cleaning the river, he said.

“Clean Ganga is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a New India. The government is working under a well laid down and good policy. The clean water of the Ganga in Kanpur is an example for the whole country. Bathing in the Ganga gives immense joy to the people,” he said.

Uttar Pradesh ministers Suresh Rana, Suresh Khanna and Baldev Singh Aulakh were present at the public meeting.