In 1985, a Hindi film titled Ram Teri Ganga Maili became a superhit and the highest-grossing Indian film of the year. The heroine Mandakini sings a song: "Ram Teri Ganga Maili Ho Gayi, Paapiyon ke paap dhote, dhote." The lyric reads, "O, Ram, your Ganga is stained by washing the sins of the sinners."

Hindus deeply believe that one's sins are washed away by the river Ganga. I do not refute that faith. Let that faith be deeply rooted in their lives. The verses in the above-quoted lyrics are quite cynical. The message of the song is that the holy river Ganga becomes stained by washing the sins of the people.

On the one side, February 05, 2025, was an important day as the Assembly election was held in Delhi, and the people were casting their votes. On the other side, it was a spectacular day for Prime Minister Modi and his party. Modi visited the site of Maha Kumbh Mela and took a "holy dip" in the river Ganga. The political opponents have criticised his visit to Maha Kumbh Mela on an election day. He has done this before – he visited Kedarnath temple and Vivekananda Memorial Rock just before the parliamentary elections.

The point that I wish to make here is that Modi has possibly become aware of all his failures during his regime since 2014. His desire to take a holy dip in Ganga shows his spirit of atonement. Let us assume that he repented for:
1.    Failing to keep all his promises made to the people of India,
2.    Failing to respect the Indian Constitution with a plan of rewriting it,
3.    Following the "divide and rule policy,"
4.    Sowing the seeds of hatred among the people to create religious and communal violence,
5.    Promoting the Hindutva ideology to build a Hindu Rashtra,
6.    Selling all profit-yielding public enterprises to a few selected corporates,
7.    Allowing the corporates to dupe our banks, swindle crores of rupees and vanish from the country,
8.    Helping Adani and Ambani to grab as much wealth as possible to build their corporate kingdom,
9.    Threatening all peaceful protesters like students, farmers and activists,
10.    Blaming always the previous governments for all his and his party's failures,
11.    Targeting Christians, Muslims, Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe communities,
12.    Failing to protect the Indian territories,
13.    Causing the downfall of the domestic economy, social and human development indices,
14.    Creating more unemployment and inflation,
15.    Failing to care about the global warming and ecological imbalance,
16.    Allowing distress migration and illegal entries of Indians to the US and other countries,
17.    Considering the opposition parties as his enemies,
18.    Failing to safeguard minority rights,
19.    Disregarding the principles of justice, equality and freedom,
20.    Misusing all autonomous institutions like the Election Commission, ED/CBI, Judiciary, RBI and all government machinery,
21.    Repeating lies after lies for his and his party's survival in power.

PM Modi has returned to Delhi as a new person, clean of all his sins. Thanks be to Mother Ganga! Let us now hope that Modi takes the country forward with renewed energy.