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Swami Arjun Puri, who is regarded as an authority on the Ramayana, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge on cleaning up the Ganges has “not yet been fulfilled” because of lack of cooperation by chief ministers of five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.
During a visit to Chicago last month, he said the Ganga Action Plan, an environmental initiative to clean up the river, has been “a failure thus far,” because of what he said were corruption, lack of technical expertise, poor environmental planning, and lack of support from some religious authorities.
The river’s restoration has been an important issue for the Modi government and it is one of the primary electoral promises that led to Modi’s election.
Puri said that the large part of the pollution is not due to the religious and spiritual rites conducted on the river’s banks, but because of the merger of 144 dirty drains that discharge sewage into the holy river from Hardwar and Kanpur all the way to Calcutta.
“The government needs to change the flow and direction of these dirty drains that are feeding into the holy river by creating irrigation systems like in the United States and other developed countries. The promises, which were made to us to clean the Ganges, have yet to be fulfilled by the government,” Puri said.
Puri visited Chicago Aug. 26 and performed Sunderkand puja for the Hanuman Temple in Glenview which is currently under construction. At a gathering of more than 100 members of the Chicago Indian-American community, he spoke of the relevance of spiritual development of all individuals and requested the assistance is completing the first-ever Hanuman Temple in greater Chicago.
Asked about the controversial issue as to whether Hindus should offer prayers only to gods in temples rather than offering to gurus, he said that “a guru is the living manifestation of God. A guru brings the person closer to God and oneself. If one sees God in his guru then who is to question their faith and devotion.
“We as a society cannot restrict any person from worshipping as they deem fit. To worship as we wish is an unalienable right of every individual and should remain that way,’ he said.
He devoted most part of his address on the cleaning of the Ganges, an issue close to his heart since the Tulsimanas Mandir is located on the bank of the river seven streams meet and control the flow of the river.
The Ganges is the most sacred river for Hindus and is also a lifeline to millions of Indians who live along its course and depend on it for their daily needs. The river was ranked the fifth most polluted river in the world in 2007.
Puri noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has requested the five chief ministers to share detailed reports on the amount of sewage that the Ganga receives in their states, and whether and how quickly they can install sewage treatment plants. The government has devised short-term, medium –term and long-term action plans, and announced an additional Rs. 2,040 crore of rupees for a new “Ganga Mission” in its first budget.
But his regret seemed to be that the ambitious plan was moving as fast as it should because of lack of cooperation and coordination among various government departments and the state governments.
During his visit abroad Swami Puri will also visit a number of states in the United States and Canada, including cities like New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Florida, Dallas, Chicago, California, Edmonton and Toronto. From Oct. 9 through 11 Arjun Puri will address a satsang in Chicago covering topica of Sita Mata Churamani at the Mana Seva Mandir Church Rd, Bensenville.
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