Inquiries directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday questioned the rationale behind his abandonment of the Varanasi villages under his purview, juxtaposing it against the escalating contamination of the Ganges despite an investment totaling Rs 20,000 crore. As Prime Minister Modi submitted his candidacy from Varanasi, Jairam Ramesh, Congress’s general secretary, underscored the imperative for the departing PM to account for the lapses in Varanasi.
“Today’s inquisition raises poignant quandaries: What accounts for the exacerbated pollution of the Ganges despite the colossal Rs 20,000 crore expenditure? Why has the Prime Minister forsaken the villages of Varanasi that he once vowed to nurture? What impels the Prime Minister’s persistent endeavor to dismantle the hallowed legacy of Mahatma Gandhi in Varanasi?” queried Ramesh in a social media post.
Ramesh recalled Modi’s 2014 declaration upon visiting Varanasi, where he professed being summoned by “Maa Ganga” and pledged to cleanse the sacred river’s waters. However, shortly after ascending to power, Modi rebranded the preexisting Operation Ganga as Namami Gange.
“A decade hence, the ‘Namami Gange’ initiative has exacted a toll exceeding Rs. 20,000 crore from the public coffers. The outcomes are as follows: the tally of Polluted River Stretches has surged from 51 to 66, with 71% of surveillance stations detecting hazardous bacteria levels surpassing safe thresholds by up to 40 times, compounded by the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the water bodies.”
“Whither has the Rs 20,000 crore allocation evaporated? To what extent has it been embezzled through corrupt practices and mismanagement? How can the denizens of Varanasi repose faith in a leader who has doled out mere rhetoric even to the venerable Ganga?” interrogated the Congress leader. He also lamented the plight of eight villages adjacent to Varanasi, which Modi had purportedly “adopted,” yet a ground report from March 2024 unveiled a stark absence of progress over the past decade despite lofty assurances of “smart schools,” healthcare facilities, and residential infrastructure.
“Domri village languishes devoid of adequate housing infrastructure,” he remarked, appending that Nagepur village contends with deplorable road conditions. Notably, Dalit communities in Jogapur and Jayapur grapple with the absence of sanitation facilities and potable water, while the flagship Nal Se Jal Scheme appears to have bypassed Parampur village entirely, as per his claims.
“The state of Mr. Modi’s ‘adopted’ villages serves as a testament to his flagging sense of obligation, or rather, the want thereof, towards fulfilling his fiduciary duties. Why has the Prime Minister relinquished his ‘adopted’ hamlets? Does this epitomize the essence of ‘Modi ki guarantee’?” he pondered.
Furthermore, Ramesh levied allegations suggesting that “The ideological inclinations of the outgoing PM gravitate towards Godse rather than Gandhi.” “His virulent antipathy towards the Father of the Nation has transcended mere rhetoric to the extent of dismantling the Sarwa Sewa Sangh, an institution inaugurated by Acharya Vinobha Bhave and associated with luminaries such as Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Jayaprakash Narayan,” he asserted. Established in 1955, the Sarwa Sewa Sangh had been rendering commendable public service until its recent eviction from a sprawling campus near Varanasi Railway Station in August 2023, subsequently annexed by the Indian Railways. A solitary enclave within the premises, housing the Gandhi Vidya Sansthan, remains unscathed owing to its prior usurpation by the RSS.
“Why does the Prime Minister persist in the charade of extolling Gandhiji on foreign soil while dismantling Gandhian institutions domestically? Can he openly concede his preference for Godse over Gandhi?” challenged Ramesh.