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Political battle for India’s city of faith

“Let us revive the Ganges, let us build a new Varanasi,” Narendra Modi, the man who many believe will be India’s next prime minister, tells a public meeting on the outskirts of Varanasi.

Mr Modi, the BJP’s candidate for the ancient city, is pushing the right buttons.

Varanasi is on the verge of civic ruin – potholed roads, gridlocked traffic, choked drains, mountains of garbage, scarce water, and most worryingly, a filthy and polluted Ganges that runs through it and where thousands of pilgrims come to take a dip.

Three sewage treatment plants can treat only a third of the detritus that flow into the river through 33 drains every day. The water is contaminated with faecal coliform bacteria – tests show it’s some 800 times more than the permissible limit for bathing.