Calling the Narmada Seva Yatra a road map for river conservation across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan "on behalf of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra" for cleaning up the holy river.
"Narmada is the lifeline of MP and a huge population is dependent on it for livelihood. I am from Gujarat and understand the value of every drop of Narmada water," the PM said. "Narmada ki parikrama se ahankar chur ho jata hai (taking a holy tour of Narmada crushes one's ego)," Modi said.

The yatra touched 16 districts of MP that the river flows through.

The Narmada Seva Yatra has no parallel anywhere in the world, Modi remarked. Taking a dig at the media, he said that if such a mission was carried out by anyone other than political leaders or the state government, "it would have been covered widely in the country and abroad".

Addressing a gathering chanting 'Modi-Modi', the PM said: "This is the end of Narmada Seva Yatra, but a new beginning to save, conserve and protect the river." He congratulated everyone who took part in the campaign led by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The Prime Minister unveiled the Narmada Conservation Action Plan and asked the CM to send it to other states as well so that they could make plans to save rivers in their states.

Unveiling his grand plans for Narmada and Amarkantak, Chouhan said 6 crore saplings would be planted along the riverbanks and the town turned into a ‘mini smart city’. "We have hired experts from IIT-Roorkee who will tell us where mining can be done on the riverbed. Mining will be totally prohibited in Amarkantak area," the CM added.

The Prime Minister appreciated the state's Swachh efforts and said that last year MP cities were not among the cleanest, but this time Indore and Bhopal bagged the first and second places respectively, which shows the dedication of people and administration.

Swami Avdheshanand, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Phaggan Singh Kulaste and ministers Gauri Shankar Shejwar and Sanjay Pathak were present on the stage. The notable absentees were central ministers Uma Bharati and Anil Madhav Dave. Both hail from Madhya Pradesh and are holding portfolios which are directly connected with river preservation. Dave in fact is the pioneer in formulating a plan for the purification and protection of Narmada.

Though the entire yatra was organised with government funds, practically it was through and through a religious programme. The Prime Minister himself carried the water of Narmada in a Kalash as the CM held aloft the traditional dhwaj (flag) in the concluding function at Amarkantak. A number of Hindu saints and sadhus were invited. During the yatra ‘arti’ was performed at all the major banks. In these artis officials participated in large numbers. The CM along with his wife joined in the religious programme at many places.

The whole programme was not in accordance with the letter and spirit of the constitution, which prohibits use of government funds for religious purpose.

This yatra took place at a time when the chief minister's relations with his ministerial colleagues were not cordial. On many occasions the chief minister pulled up his ministerial colleagues on several pretexts.

He expressed anger against ministers for their failure to attend party meetings. He also indirectly blamed them for leaking the proceedings of the cabinet to the media and hinted that he was aware of who were all responsible for the leakage and will not hesitate to take action at the appropriate time.

Prior to Modi's visit to Amarkantak, rumours were afloat in political circles that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is facing the ire of the central leadership of the BJP due to the antics of some of his ministers. That is probably why he is coming down heavily on his colleagues.

Ministers are fast becoming a pain in the neck for the chief minister. It began with the name of Sanjay Pathak surfacing in Katni Hawala scam.

Moreover, Gyan Singh is refusing to resign from the ministry despite being elected to the Lok Sabha. Umashankar Gupta has described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a ‘sirphira’ (madcap). Om Prakash Dhurve’s name has been dragged into the controversy over the Deendayal Mobile Hospital Scheme. And the latest in the series is Gaurishankar Bisen’s sozzled son-in-law creating ruckus on a train.

The antics of the ministers are not only hurting the image of the party at the national level, they are also giving the Congress a convenient handle to beat the BJP with. The central leadership has asked Chouhan to rein in the ministers so that their conduct does not become an electoral issue in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

The state BJP core committee and the RSS leaders have told Chouhan in no uncertain terms that the ministers, MLAs and bureaucracy may become a problem for the party in the time to come.

Complaints against ministers are also pouring in from the BJP and the RSS workers from different districts. They are bitter that the ministers are ignoring them. With Chouhan not taking action on these complaints, the workers are approaching the central leadership. The impression gaining ground is that Chouhan does not have control over his ministers and the grassroots level workers are facing problems due to it.

Sources said that a meeting of the RSS and BJP leaders would soon be convened to build better coordination between the two organisations and for redressing the grievances of the workers. The acts of omission and commission of the ministers may also figure in the meeting.

Sources said that the BJP central leadership and the RSS may direct sacking of the ministers who have been caught in controversies before the assembly elections.

Chouhan, on his part, is consistently issuing stiff warnings to the ministers to improve their performance and rapport with the party workers. The chief minister is also planning to review the performance of the ministers himself.

The manner in which Prime Minister Modi lauded the performance of Chouhan in organising the Narmada yatra will give him strength in dealing with the ministers who are refusing to fall in line despite the chief minster's repeated warnings. Meanwhile the Congress has also started formulating strategy to deal with the political situations as it emerges after Modi's May 15 visit to Madhya Pradesh. (IPA Service)