Raj Thackeray calls Ganga water ‘unclean’, says people should step out of superstition

Mumbai, India: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray stirred controversy by questioning the cleanliness of Ganga water, mocked devotees who recently took a bath at Prayagraj and even said that he recently refused to drink the sangam water brought for him from Maha Kumbh.

While speaking at a programme organised to mark the 19th foundation day of his party on Saturday, Thackeray said his party leader, Bala Nandgaonkar, had brought holy water from the recently-concluded Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, but he refused to drink it because it is “unclean”.

People should step out of superstition: Thackeray

He further expressed that he had been hearing since the days of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi that the river Ganga would be cleaned. “The truth is that Ganga has still not been cleaned. Not a single river in the country is clean. The nation has just emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, yet no one seems to care, and people are crowding at the Kumbh Mela to take a dip. People should come out of all this faith and superstition and use their heads properly,” said Thackeray. Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena along with some spiritual gurus have criticised the senior politician over his remarks.

 “Bala Nandgaonkar had brought some water for me, I said, go away. I am not going to take a bath. Who will drink that water? Covid has just passed and people were roaming around with masks on their faces for two years. Now, they are going there and taking a bath. Who will go and take a holy dip in that Ganga?” the MNS Chief said.

Thackeray also said he has seen videos of devotees washing clothes, scrubbing their bodies and taking bath in Ganga. He asserted that every river in the country is polluted unlike rivers in foreign countries which are kept clean throughout the year.

“Faith should also have some meaning. Not a single river in the country is clean but we call it our mother. In foreign countries, the river is not called mother, but it remains absolutely clean and all our rivers are polluted. Someone is bathing in it or washing clothes,” he said.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Ganga water quality

Raj Thackeray’s remarks about the Ganga comes barely a month after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath refuted reports of severe contamination of Maha Kumbh water calling them “misleading”.

“The UP and CPCB are continuously monitoring water quality, and recent reports confirm that the water at the Sangam is now fit for both bathing and aachman (ritual drinking). This means that the false campaign was done only to defame the Maha Kumbh,” CM Yogi had said.

Contamination in Ganga water in UP and Bihar

Yogi’s remarks came after the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) submitted a report to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on February 17 citing that water at several locations at the Maha Kumbh was contaminated with high levels of faecal coliform bacteria and that it is unfit for bathing.

The CPCB found the presence of faecal coliform bacteria in Ganga water along various locations in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj during the recent Maha Kumbh 2025. Recently, Ganga water has been declared unfit for bathing at several places in Bihar. This is mainly due to the presence of a high value of “bacteriological population”, according to a report by the Bihar Economic Survey 2024-25. At most places, the presence of total coliform and faecal coliform in the Ganga is much higher, which makes it unfit for bathing.