leaders across the political spectrum reached the bank of rivers in Dehradun, Haridwar and some other places in the State where a large number of Bihar, Jharkhand and UP natives converged to perform Chhath Puja rituals on Thursday, the penultimate day of the four-day puja.
Among those who visited the ghats were the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, finance minister Prakash Pant, Mussoorie MlA Ganesh Joshi and the State BJP president Ajay Bhatt.
They visited the fabled Tapkeshwar temple, situated on the banks of Tamasa river and greeted the people who were engaged in the puja paraphernalia. CM Rawat said that the festival which brings prosperity and happiness in life is special for another reason.
“It is all about worship of nature, something that awakens us to the need of protecting environment,” he said.
Union Minister of agriculture and farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh also attended Chhath puja at Dam Kothi in Haridwar. State cabinet Ministers -Madan Kaushik and Rekha Arya- and mayor Manoj Garg were also present.
Singh said that Chhath festival has turned into a national festival, transcending its regional/ethnic exclusivity. “The rituals are absolutely scientific,” he added.
Congress did not lag behind the ruling party in their bid to endear them to the Bihar/ eastern UP natives during the principal festival of the regions. Those who greeted the people included the State Congress Chief Pritam Singh, former State party president Kishore Upadhyay and former MlA Rajkumar.
They reached the puja organised by Maithali Chhath Puja Samiti at Rispana and participated.
Pritam Singh while greeting the people on the occasion said that the festival is assuming a pan- India dimension with passing time.
“We all love to celebrate Chhath which is held six days after Deepalwali,” he added.
Chhath Holiday: Opinions fractured
Dehradun:Opinions are fractured over the justification of the Government order that declared Thursday as a public holiday to mark the most important day of the four-day Chhath puja. While one section says that the State Government’s move is nothing but an appeasement of sorts with the number of migrants from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh swelling with time. “They can hardly be ignored now in electoral terms. The move is political and nothing to do with religion,” said an observer. Another observer slammed the state government for having allowed a day to be wasted this way. “The festival marking which the holiday was declared has nothing to do with Uttarakhand and its culture,” he added.