Yogi Adityanath inaugurates Ganga luxury cruise liner in Varanasi that serves alcohol, non-veg food; sadhus
Amid protest from sadhus and saints in Kashi, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday inaugurated a five-star luxury cruise on the Ganga in Varanasi.
Operated by Nordic Cruise line, the double-decker 2,000 sq feet luxury cruise has a seating capacity of about 125 tourists. This includes 60 seats in the air-conditioned lower deck fitted with big see-through glasses to enjoy the ‘Ganga Aarti’ at Dashashamedh Ghat and ‘Shubha-e-Banaras’ at Assi Ghat in Varanasi.
Though people of Varanasi and tourists are happy with the launch of the luxury cruise on river Ganga, a few saints in Kashi have lodged their protest over sailing of the cruise on holy river.
Swami Jitendranand Saraswati, General Secretray Ganga Mahasabha said that saint samaj was agitated over non-vegetarian and liquor being served on the cruise. “It will pave way for the western culture in world’s ancient city. How can non-vegetarian and liquor be served on holy river Ganga, whom Hindus revered as their mother?” he said.
“They will throw left-over of non-vegetarian food into Ganga to make it impure. It is against the rulings of the High Court and Supreme Court. We will demand from the Prime Minister and Chief Minister to ban ‘maans-Mandira (non-veg and liquir) at all religious places,” said Swami Saraswati.
Ganga Mahasbha has also written a letter to the Varanasi Commissioner Deepak Agarwal to withdraw the cruise from sailing in Ganga in Varanasi. “We will be forced to launch an agitation if the same was not withdrawn,” warned Swami Saraswati.