Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj joined locals who protested against loud music being played at a Chhath Puja ghat in the Chirag Dilli area on Tuesday. A video shared by the news agency PTI showed the protesters trying to damage the police barricades put in to control the crowd at the ghat. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party are already engaged in a political clash over the setup of ghats for devotees.
CM Atishi said the Delhi government has made over 1000 Chhath Puja Chhath ghats across the city. The festival, predominantly celebrated by people from Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern Uttar Pradesh, has led to both parties accusing each other of disrespecting the Purvanchali community.
The dispute centres around the Satpula ghat in south Delhi, a traditional site for Chhath Puja, where AAP leaders allege that BJP representatives have disrupted preparations. Bhardwaj earlier accused the BJP-controlled Delhi Development Authority (DDA) of obstructing access to ghats, claiming that the DDA had "blocked a path used by Dalit villagers for Chhath Puja."
"On the orders of the BJP, the Delhi Police has turned Chhath Puja into a cantonment, barricades have been put up all around and are stopping people from celebrating Chhath Puja. They have no jurisdiction to stop Chhath Puja. The Delhi government has been conducting the puja here for the last eight years and these people have turned it into a cantonment only at the behest of the BJP. BJP members went to occupy the Chhath Ghat at ITO this morning and the Chhath Puja committee chased them away from there as well. And here too, the BJP is doing the same dirty politics," he said earlier.