Yogi did not bathe in Ganga because he knows it is dirty, says Akhilesh

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did not take a dip in the Ganga because he knew the river was dirty, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed on Tuesday. 

“The BJP spent crores on cleaning the Ganga. But Yogi Adityanath knew that the Ganga is dirty. That’s why he didn’t take a dip,” Yadav said.

“The question is: Will Mother Ganga ever be clean? Funds flowed out, but the river hasn’t been cleaned,” he said, referring to the central government’s ‘Namami Gange’, or National Mission for Clean Ganga, project, with an indicative cost of ₹20,000 crore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Varanasi, offered prayers and bathed in the Ganga at Lalita Ghat on Monday before inaugurating the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project.

Yadav’s comments on Tuesday were the latest in a series of political attacks between the SP and the BJP, two major contenders in the Uttar Pradesh election next year.

Earlier, Yadav had attacked Modi saying that people spend their final days in Varanasi. Asked about the PM’s visit to the city, Yadav told reporters in Etawah: “That [Banaras] is a place to stay. People spend their final days in Banaras.”

Modi, too, had attacked the SP saying that red [the colour of SP’s cap] signified danger for the state.