This refers to the report "Ganga cleaning not a Hindutva project: Jairam Ramesh" (July 6). If one goes back to the year 1960 and watches the movie Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, produced by Raj Kapoor, one remembers what people thought of the Ganga. In those days, the Ganga was not dirty. Those were the days of Vinoba Bhave, with an innovative mission of Bhoodan (donation of land to the landless), and of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the hero in Indian politics. Kapoor produced another movie in 1985, Ram Teri Ganga Maili. When the second movie was produced, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi launched a project to clean the Ganga. But what happened in between the 25 years of the two movies? Why did people pollute the Ganga? The answer to this question will not only help find ways to clean the Ganga, but also many other rivers and canals. Ramesh had said Indian railway tracks had become toilets. He had also stated that India needed more toilets and not temples, much before Narendra Modi coined this slogan during election campaigning. So, cleaning the Ganga is not enough.
Chandrashekhar G Ranade Washington D C
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