An intense war of words took place on Saturday between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi over a dispute over the setting up of Chhath Puja ghats in South Delhi’s Greater Kailash for the Purvanchali festival celebrated on a scale wide.

AAP leaders have accused the BJP of obstructing local efforts to set up the ghat in a Delhi Development Authority (DDA)-run park in Chirag Delhi. In response, the BJP leveled similar allegations against the AAP, claiming that the ruling party was obstructing the creation of the Chhath ghat.

BJP leader Suraj Chauhan usually organizes Chhath Puja at this location every year and preparations were to begin after obtaining permission from the DDA. However, AAP workers tried to perform Chhath Puja at the same place and got approval from the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), which led to a clash between the two parties.

As tensions escalated and leaders from both sides traded accusations, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi slammed the BJP for indulging in “cheap politics”. She stated, “BJP despises the people of Purvanchal. Their political tactics have degraded to the point of banning Chhath Ghat in Greater Kailash through DDA. Such contemptuous politics towards Chhath, a revered festival of faith, will not be tolerated and BJP will face the repercussions”.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP leader and urban development minister, who also serves as the local MLA for Greater Kailash, visited the site to stage a protest. He alleged that the “BJP-controlled DDA” was preventing Purvanchali residents from setting up the ghat, alleging that the BJP had forced the DDA to stop its construction and had the Delhi Police shut down the eight-year-old Chhath Puja site.

Bharadwaj further accused the BJP of being anti-Dalit, saying, “The Dalit community has been using this ‘Bhim Pulia’ road for the last 300 years. However, in the last one month, the BJP’s DDA has closed this road, preventing people from celebrating Chhath Puja because of its anti-Dalit and anti-Purvanchali stance. Why am I doing this?”

A DDA official informed news agency PTI that an area of ​​6,000 square meters at Satpula Lake has already been earmarked for Chhath Puja.

Contrary to AAP’s claims, BJP leader Shikha Rai accused a group of locals who arrived at Satpula DDA Park to clean the ghat site of being prevented from doing so by “Bharadwaj’s people”.

She alleged, “AAP workers issued threats and pressured residents and BJP members to leave.” Rai added that in recent years, AAP workers occupied the designated area days before the festival and imposed arbitrary conditions on its use.

The Purvanchalis, who are Bhojpuri-speaking people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, are a significant voting bloc in Delhi, accounting for 30 to 40 percent of the approximately 1.5 crore electorate.

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