Devotees Perform Rituals At Delhi Ghats As Chhath Puja Begins: Watch

The four-day festival of Chhath Puja began with devotees taking a dip in Yamuna river in Delhi.

Devotees thronged to river Yamuna in Delhi as the first day of Chhath Puja began on Tuesday. Women were seen making offerings to the holy river which remained covered in toxic foam. 

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai claimed that the contaminated water is being sent from Uttar Pradesh and the work to clean it is continously underway. 

The four-day festival of Chhath began on Tuesday and will see a series of meticulously planned rituals and offerings.

The festival begins with the Nahay Khay ritual where devotees participants take a ritualistic bath and consume a simple meal. Subsequently, they observe Kharna which involves fasting throughout the day, breaking it only after sunset as an offering to the deities.

Chhath puja is popularly observed in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal. With people migrating from these states to Delhi, the festival has gained popularity in the national capital as well. 

On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi announced that preparations for Chhath Puja were underway at 1,000 ghats across the city. Her claim came amid a political war among parties in the national capital over arrangements for devotees.

Atishi visited the Yamuna ghat at ITO to review arrangements and slammed the BJP for allegedly indulging in politics over Chhath Puja and making baseless allegations over preparations.

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva has repeatedly attacked the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation for its failure to clean the Yamuna and enable Purvanchalis to offer Chhath Puja in the holy river water.

He raised the issue of toxic foam in the river in the run-up to the Chhath festivities as an example of the AAP government’s insensitivity towards Purvanchalis.

"This foam isn’t just pollution, it’s the result of deep-rooted corruption in the AAP government," he had said. 

Hitting out at BJP, AAP MP Sanjay Singh called it a party opposed to people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. "I myself had to sit on a dharna in the Greater Kailash area to protest against the demolition of a Chhath Ghat by a BJP corporator," he said.