On The spot
Tavleen Singh
As dusk fell over the ghats of Benares last Tuesday I watched Ram Navmi being celebrated from a boat on the Ganga. There were lights and crowds and loud religious music on the ghats and on the river floated the sound of mantras from a procession of tableaux telling the story of Ram. Pilgrims and foreign tourists watched in visible wonder. Their presence came as a reminder that the celebrations on the Dasashwamedha Ghat were taking place today and not hundreds of years ago and I found myself proud that India should have a city so old and one that has such a timeless quality. And, I found myself ashamed that this city has been allowed to fall to ruin by municipal neglect and criminal unconcern for India’s heritage. Benares with its myths of life and death, its ancient traditions and its vast treasure of learning is a repository of this heritage.
The most damage to this city has ironically been done by our socialist rulers in the past 67 years because they deliberately allowed the magnificent palaces of former princes along the riverfront to decay and. They have done this in other Indian cities but in Benares the neglect is more obvious and more painful. If they had at least cared to preserve this city’s spiritual heritage and its institutions of higher learning, its museums and its superbly rich traditions of art, crafts and textiles it would have been recompense. But, even these have been horribly neglected so it came as no surprise to me that almost everyone I met believed that Narendra Modi would become the savior of the city and the Ganga if they voted for him. ‘Without the Ganga there is no Benares so we hope he will do for the Ganga and the ghats what he has done for the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad,’ said a former museum curator.
These are not difficult things to do even if they seem impossible. To preserve the older parts of the city the first step that needs to be taken is to put a complete ban on motorized traffic. The second thing that needs to be done is to bring in machines to clean the garbage that litters every street corner and that clogs the river along the ghats. If municipal officials remain incapable of showing commitment to doing this it is worth giving the job to private companies. The third thing that needs to be done is to bring in our best engineers to modernize the antiquated drainage system.
Cleaning the Ganga is more complicated because ever since Rajiv Gandhi started the Ganga Action Plan in 1986 an intricate pyramid of corrupt officials have learned to make fortunes out of not cleaning the Ganga. It will not be easy to get them to relinquish their rotten fiefdoms as the late Mahant of the Sankat Mochan mandir, Virbhadra Misra, discovered when he persuaded the municipality of Benares to act on his plan to divert sewage away from the Ganga. It never used to be put in the Ganga as a matter of tradition until the British brought modern sewage systems. I met Mahantji when I was last here ten years ago and he was a sad and disappointed man. He said, ‘When the municipality accepted my proposal state government officials intervened and took the matter to court where it has been stuck for ten years.’ As far as I know nothing has changed since then.
Why am I connecting these civic and environmental problems to Modi becoming, in all likelihood, the next MP from Benares? For the reason that ever since I came here this time I have met people who have talked of him as if he were not just a messiah but a magician. Whether it was students in BHU (Benares Hindu University), politicians in Papu’s chai shop on the Assi Ghat or ordinary residents of Benares all I heard repeated was the hope that Modi would bring immense change and prosperity if he becomes prime minister. The words ‘parivartan’ and ‘vikas’ were used so many times that they ring in my ears even as I write this piece.
These words come always after people have first expressed their deep despair at the state of India. On the day that the Congress Party finally announced that their candidate from Benares was Ajay Rai, a man with a criminal background, the despair deepened. Until then there had been hope among those who do not want Modi to win that the Congress Party would field someone who might be able to give him a really good fight like Priyanka Gandhi. When I asked the Samajwadi Party politician who told me this if he thought she could defeat Modi he said, ‘No. But, she might be able to reduce the margin of victory by a few lakhs because the Muslim vote could shift to her.’
The Muslim vote is much talked about because there is confusion even among those who like to make reckless predictions about these things. Will it go to the fringe Muslim party, the Quami Ekta Dal, started by the gangster Mukhtar Ansari? Will it go to Congress or will Arvind Kejriwal succeed in making more impact than he so far has? Whenever I asked about Kejriwal I got a standard response. People said they had liked him very much because of the strong stand he took against corruption but they had become disenchanted when he ‘ran away’ from governing Delhi. Of course he has not yet started his campaign here and things could change but at the moment it does not look as if he has made much of a dent politically.
What he has done is succeeded in doing is to make corruption a major issue. Everyone I talked to blamed corruption for all the things that have gone wrong not just in Benares but in India. And, it is because Modi is not seen as corrupt that he is being viewed as a new kind of political leader, one who really cares for more than just winning power. The people of Benares have been let down so many times by their elected representatives that although there is a definite vein of hope running through this very politically conscious city it is not yet strong enough to dispel the layers and layers of despair. Benares is looking not just for an MP but for a savior.
Follow our WhatsApp channel