Even If Shivji Makes A Mistake, Varanasi Shows Him The Door, Says Sankatmochan's Mahant

Vishwambhar Nath Mishra is the mahant of Sankatmochan, a temple set up in Banaras by the poet-saint Tulsidas. He is also a noted environmentalist, a community figure of great significance and teaches electronics engineering at Banaras Hindu University. In this interview with Pragya Singh he speaks out against the BJP version of development in Banaras.

Banaras is on the brink of another electoral turf-war. How have the battles shaped up in the city?

This election is only about vikas. But if you ask vikas kya hai, what is development; that nobody can say. Even those who are proposing vikas don’t know what it is. Whatever is being done and said along communal lines are also agenda items (of vikas). It’s done to make the minorities fear us and to make us fear minorities. That is what is going on here. Can you prosper this way? At this point mutual trust is in great shortage and this mistrust is being very carefully harnessed.

But there is visible development going on, the roads are being dug up for various projects.

Does vikas mean that you overturn every gali of Banaras? In fact, Banaras has got a lot of money but no plan for what to do with that money. It seems they are just trying to finish the allocated funds. Whoever feels like it is digging and moving on to the next operation.

You seem to find the digging troubling.

Many people have interpreted Banaras in their own way but I would say that this is a place of tilism, magic and beauty. See, Kashi’s old name used to be Anand Kanan, the ‘Forest of Bliss’. Where we are sitting right now, Tulsi Ghat, was surrounded by a dense forest. Kashi is a dedicated space for Shivji, it is considered his dwelling place. Shiva has said that he will do tapasya on Kailash but live as a householder in Banaras. This is the beauty of this place. But this place has not compromised with anybody. Even if Shivji has made a mistake, it has shown him the door.

Can you explain what you mean?

There was once upon a time a great crisis in Kashi, a drought-like situation, and many other problems. At that time the gods decided that a certain king who was doing penance here would solve the problems of Kashi. That king, Deodas, said he would take charge of Kashi on the condition that no devata(gods) should live here. The gods then convinced Shivji to leave. Once the devatas left they tried every ruse to corrupt the king, so that he leaves and they could return to Kashi. But whoever they sent to corrupt the king ended up staying on in Banaras instead.

What is the significance to Banaras today?

There is a state of confusion because the candidates fielded by political parties are many, especially from the BJP, which people here didn’t expect. It is possible that if these candidates win on Modi’s name, it will prove that anyone can win on his name. Hence, that no local leadership is required. If this strategy works then in every election someone will be imported to Banaras. Last time Modi ji contested from here. But many others have come here in the past. Murli Manohar Joshi ji, Shastri ji, and many others. In this trend, nobody is concerned for Banaras. They come, they contest, win and leave.

There is also a lot of communal rhetoric doing the rounds.

This is a spiritual place where all religions and all traditions exist comfortably and get a chance to flourish; whether Hindus, Muslims, Jains or Christians. This city is great because this is a great spiritual space. If this model is good, if it works here, then why is there any difficulty in any part of India in living the same way? Banaras is like a microcosm of India. Every state, every region has its elements here and they are all together since centuries. This situation has not been created by us but it is a reflection of its living spiritual tradition.

The development is precisely about doing that...

What is going on is that everybody is doing the ‘development of Banaras’. In fact, poorey bharat ka vikas kar rahey hain--all of India is being developed. But in that process whatever we have created so far is being destroyed by us.

How is that?

By indulging only in scrutinizing our predecessors. It is all we seem to be doing -- proclaiming that we are good and others, bad. It is as if I, the Mahant of this institution today, starts saying that in my father’s time, when he was Mahant, whatever happened was not good but whatever I am doing is very good. And accordingly, I start digging things up from the past... This is what is happening today in the country.

How does this relate to what is happening in Varanasi?

We believe that in the non-substantial world there are only four substantial things. First among these is to live in Kashi. Try to understand -- the primacy is on being a resident of Kashi. Now, you (Modi) don’t stay here but in Delhi. So half your attempt is already chaupat -- failure. If you are very busy then at least every month or two you should check in and see how things are going. That the MP of this place is now the PM is not just a matter for this constituency but for the entire nation. Either the ruler should be so pratapi (effective) that his grace ensures that all pending work here gets done. This is how things used to work here but not any longer.

That there are plans for the city and that work is in progress is evident.

The Prime Minister has sent a lot of money to Banaras but that money has been mis-managed. Also, what has to happen in Banaras has to be planned by Banarasis. They have spoiled this place. Their approach is that we are giving money, so we will do as we please. Is Banaras known for the kind of development we see in Delhi? It is not. Spirituality is what it is known for, and its’ traditions, its’ literature and music. Now tell me which of these have been addressed?

The idea is to make Banaras appealing to all, make it comfortable for visitors...

People do not come to Banaras looking for a Smart-City. Why people come to Banaras is not visible to you (BJP leaders in Delhi) but only to those who come here. Why else is Banaras second only to Lucknow in terms of inbound flights? The beauty of this place is in its lanes and galis. You are widening them more than required because you are bent upon destroying these traditions. You are even disturbing the equilibrium of the Vishwanath temple system under the guise of developing it.

You mean the acquisition of land for Vishwanath temple’s expansion?

They like to call Banaras a heritage city but what they really want is a Venice-type culture which will never work here. Heritage means that you and your ambience should be comfortable with each other. Baba Vishwanath’s temple is like the heart of the city. He happens to be the king of Kashi and we believe that the people who stay here are doing so because Shivji likes them. If Shivji does not like me he will throw me out. How long you will stay here is also up to him not a matter of our own will. This is what we believe. In the same way, the Vishwanath temple complex, the buildings near it, the people who live within -- they are all part of the same system.

Does this mean you don’t want the changes?

It means that you have to manage the space in Banaras as best you can, in its’ original form. But if you change the character of Banaras, most of the people are not going to like it. Do you think that Baba Vishwanath is going to fit in your new model, where you are trying to force his neighbours to vacate? Baba Vishwanath is not tied to you or your development model. He will also find a new place and move there. And the day he leaves Banaras, and the Ganga is not here any longer, nothing will be left of Banaras.

Many leaders including Uma Bharti have tried hard to clean the Ganga river at Banaras. Has it had any results?

 I feel sad that you mention Uma Bharti because nothing has happened. I spoke to Modi at length about Ganga cleaning. Their plan was nothing. It was just to turn 1600 km of the river into a series of 16 ponds by building dams every 100 kms. The very definition of a river is that it is flowing water, not a series of ponds.

What is stopping the cleaning of this river?

We treat the Ganga as a living deity, not just a river, and we pray to her. Jawaharlal Nehru described her as a silken thread which binds the country. I interpret Ganga as a medium for national and international integration. If you want to look at Ganga as just another river in India then that is your narrowness. If you say you want to become a vishwaguru, you have to open your mind and treat everybody as a member of the family.

You mean the garrison-like approach to Banaras’ security at the ghats and the Vishwanath temple?

Already in the name of security you have turned the Vishwanath Temple system into a fortress. Now visitors don’t like to go there. They prefer to visit another Shivala, like Kedarnath or elsewhere. Those who still go to Vishwanath are mostly outsiders and 85 per cent do not return. They are treated in such a way, with the CRPF and who knows what other forces all over the place, that they no longer feel comfortable coming there. When things have become so difficult for visitors then what do you think -- will Shivji want to stay there?

But what of the Ganga cleaning?

What I described so far was Shivji’s ‘development’. Now let us see Gangaji’s development. It started in1986 when about150 MLD sewage used to be discharged from here. The infrastructure developed then had a capacity to treat 102 MLD. That is, we were already lagging behind by 50 MLD. Still, in 1993, they announced that the Ganga Action Plan is over. But what nobody mentions is that the technology they had chosen for sewage treatment had already failed miserably because it didn’t have the capability to remove fecal coliform bacteria.

But fecal contamination is the main pollutant, a cause of waterborne diseases?

That is what I am saying -- the ability to treat this pollutant is still not there. Even today they are carrying on with the same technology which failed in the first phase. For their new ASP, or Activated Sludge Plant, they claimed that it would produce gases that will run generators. However, no gas is produced so the question of running generators doesn’t arise.

What explains this chaos?

They only want to show that they are developing a large infrastructure capable of treating sewage. You can’t just sit at Tulsi Ghat and say that we will clean the Ganga. After all, the objective of Ganga Action Plan was very clear. It was supposed to intercept, divert and treat sewage from its point sources. That discharge was to be treated such that the water becomes innocuous for use. Now, they simply did not properly intercept the sewage. As on date there are still 33 such points which are dumping 300 to 350 MLD of sewage every day.

You mean the project has failed?

What else? Whatever infrastructure they have developed, around 100 MLD in the first phase, even that is lying fully abandoned. Now they have two more proposed Sewage Treatment Plants. One is at Dinapur, whose capacity is being enhanced to 140 MLD. The other one is located at Baithana, where there is a new STP for 120 MLD.

Are these still proposed? Not functional?

What else am I saying? Now if you ask them why they are not functional they will say, ‘At least we are doing something for Banaras. Why are you people shouting?’ This is what is going on. It is all happening just to befool people. They insist they have great respect for Gangaji and that they are ‘working’, that there is no lack of effort on their part.

Still, these issues, like demonetisation or Ganga cleaning don’t seem to be moving people during the election campaigns...

Every person has suffered the consequences of demonetisation but I don’t know how or why they seem to blindly justify it. In the villages nobody has any money. There is a lot of anger. People’s marriages broke up. Do you think they are going to compromise with you? The limits on cash withdrawal will go from March 12. So, ultimately, you have targeted elections with demonetisation. This is a fact most people don’t appreciate, because today’s financial advisors are Ram Dev (Baba Ramdev) and Amitabh Bachchan, not these Nobel winners like Amartya Sen who know nothing of economics....