Bhopal: Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, during a video-conference with district collectors and divisional commissioners regarding preparations for the massive plantation drive on the banks of Narmada River on Thursday said before planting saplings, ‘Ma Narmada’ should be worshipped and ‘Narmadaashtakam’ (a Sanskrit hymn hailing Narmada believed to be composed by Adi Shankaracharya) should be sung or played. This, he said, would create a ‘positive atmosphere’. Six crore saplings are to be planted on both banks of the river on July 2 under the drive.
Earlier, during Narmada Seva Yatra, Chouhan, along with commissioners and collectors, had performed ‘aartis’ of ‘Ma Narmada’ at numerous places and had repeatedly referred to her holiness.
Environmentalists and well-meaning citizens have strong reservations about the attempt by the government to give religious colour to an environment campaign. “If you start singing aartis and performing pujas, how do you expect people of other religions to join the campaign?” asked Ajay Dube, founder secretary of ‘Prayatna’ and a well-known environmentalist. He said the Narmada campaign was ‘pseudo environmental’ and was aimed at appealing to religious sentiments to gain votes. “Why did the government not remember Narmada all these years? Why now when elections are round the corner?” he wanted to know.
Subhash Pande, another prominent Green of the city described the religious overtones of the campaign as ‘regrettable and disappointing’. He said there was no scientific evidence to prove that Narmada, Ganga and other ‘holy’ rivers were different from other rivers in anyway.
“In fact, the holy status only makes rivers more vulnerable to pollution and Ganga – the holiest and the dirtiest river of the country – is a glaring example,” he says. Pande made another significant point saying sound of 40 decibels or higher intensity could harm aquatic life. “If you perform pujas, blow conch shells and beat drums on the banks of rivers you are posing a grave threat to aquatic creatures,” he said.
Nirmala Buch, former chief secretary of the state and chairperson, National Centre for Human Settlement and Environment (NCHSE) has a slightly different take on the issue. “I think, according holy status to rivers is more a cultural than a religious practice in India,” she said.
Political analyst and commentator Girija Shankar is of the view that while involving religious figures in such campaign can be accepted as they are also opinion-makers and can help promote an awareness campaign but religious rituals can have no place in it. “Sadhus are okay, aarti is not,” he said.
KK Mishra, chief spokesperson of state Congress finds the plantation drive a massive scam. “All this is being done just to push under the carpet the illegal mining of sand from Narmada, in which ruling party leaders have minted crores,” he said. He evaded a direct reply to the question as to whether worshipping of the river in a government campaign was acceptable.
