In what is seen as a rare collusion in the Indian landscape, leading actors of Tamil cinema, cricketers and politicians have all been brought together for an environmental initiative. ‘Rally for rivers’, a campaign organised by spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. And this has led to a splash of blue on everyone’s social media timeline, as celebrities step up to explain his cause – Rejuvenation of rivers in the the country.
Union environment, forest and climate change minister Harsh Vardhan Singh, cricketers Virendhar Sewag, Mithali Raj and car racer Narain Karthikeyan flagged off the nationwide campaign initiated by Isha Foundation. The event was held on Sunday in Coimbatore, where river Noyyal is dying a slow death. The campaign, according to the foundation, aims to bring a policy change at the national level to save the rivers.’
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev himself will be riding 7,000 km from Kanyakumari and covering 16 states to create awareness on the issue. The rally was flagged off on September 3 and will culminate in Delhi on October 2. Along the course of this car rally, there will be 23 major events and series of awareness campaigns.
Actors including Suhasini Maniratnam, Radhika Sarathkumar, Revathi and Khushboo have all held banners and spoken in support of the rally on social media. They were all spotted in blue garments, as a sign of support for the campaign.
According to the campaign’s dedicated website – ‘India’s rivers are undergoing a drastic change. Due to the pressures of population and development, our perennial rivers are becoming seasonal. Many of the smaller rivers have already vanished. Flood as well as drought are becoming increasingly frequent, as rivers turn unruly during the monsoon, and vanish once the rainy season is over.’
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev reportedly blamed societal apathy at the event for simultaneous floods and droughts across the country. “Our ancestors handed us the rivers, forests, canals and other natural resources. But the present generation has taken such a huge bite from it that there will be nothing left for future generations in the coming decades,” he said at the event.
The union minister meanwhile said “This is our moral responsibility. It is our duty to see that we protect the rights of the future generation of children,” he said. The minister further added that the centre would welcome Sadhguru on October 2, when he arrives at the capital.
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