Chhath Puja row intensifies as Congress leaders target BJP over festival politics

• Congress MP Manish Tewari urges parties to keep religious festivals out of political disputes.

• Priyanka Kakkar accuses the BJP of exploiting faith and questions conditions at Delhi’s Chhath ghats.

• Congress leader Hussain Dalwai criticises religious mobilisation in Mumbai following Raj Thackeray’s remarks.

A political dispute over Chhath Puja has widened after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray accused the BJP of using the festival for electoral advantage, prompting Congress leaders to question the politicisation of religious celebrations.

Congress MP Manish Tewari appealed for restraint, describing Chhath as a sacred occasion observed with deep devotion. Religious festivals, he said, should be approached with reverence, humility and dedication rather than turned into subjects of partisan confrontation.

His comments came as the debate spread from political mobilisation in Maharashtra to preparations for devotees along the Yamuna in Delhi.

Congress leader Priyanka Kakkar accused the BJP of using religious sentiments to seek votes and questioned the condition of facilities being provided for Chhath worshippers.

She claimed that a specially prepared ghat was being arranged for political leaders while the Wazirabad riverfront remained affected by foul smells, waste and dead fish. She also criticised BJP MP Manoj Tiwari’s clean-water appearances, contrasting them with what she described as continuing pollution in the Yamuna.

Kakkar questioned the government’s sewage-treatment record, claiming that treatment capacity remained around 650 million gallons a day and that roughly three-quarters of sewage treatment plants were shut. These figures were claims made by her and were not independently verified.

She argued that public attention should be directed towards water quality and devotees’ welfare rather than political publicity.

In Mumbai, Congress leader Hussain Dalwai said he had no objection to Chhath Puja but opposed what he described as excessive fanfare and attempts to mobilise people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh through religion.

Dalwai said governments should concentrate on the problems facing poorer citizens instead of drawing them into religious disputes. He maintained that his position was not against religious belief, but against bringing religion into streets and public political mobilisation.

The differing responses reflect the widening political argument around Chhath: Tewari called for festivals to be kept above party politics, while Kakkar and Dalwai questioned the BJP’s approach to preparations and religious outreach.

With IANS inputs