Live Coverage Day 29 – Rally For Rivers, Haridwar

In the event at Dev Bhumi in Haridwar, on the banks of the sacred Ganga, where 50% of the attendees were sadhus, the stage too was adorned in saffron color. The representatives of renowned spiritual organizations including Swami Chidanand Saraswati from Parmarth Niketan, Swami Hari Chetnanand from Hari Seva ashram, in one voice not only passionately supported the cause and Sadhguru’s efforts, but earnestly appealed to everyone to make this movement a people’s movement.

However, a special mention goes to Baba Ramdev. He said Sadhguru is like the rishis and saints of ancient India who played a great role in making this nation happen. “Some have vision of 2 days, some for 2 years but Sadhguru has the vision of thousands years ahead for the wellbeing of this country, and he is working hard for it too!” he added. His speech was full of puns and inspiring and funny remarks about the lifestyles of sadhus and how they can contribute to this movement – it brought much laughter from the audience, including Sadhguru.

During his speech, he offered to grow 100,000 trees near Ganga as his Dakshina to Sadhguru. To this later in his speech, Sadhguru replied that at this moment he would prefer to have missed calls as Guru Dakshina instead of the tree plantation. Hearing this, Baba Ramdev got up again, took the mike, and announced that he will ensure 20-30 million missed calls happen in the next 1-2 days. “We will print the missed call number and message on the wrappers of all our popular products such as Dant Kanti (toothpaste),” Baba Ramdev added.

The Chief Minister, Uttrakhand, was also not far behind in giving the Rally for Rivers a further push. He said, “Today this Rally is becoming a people’s movement. I believe this is just the beginning. This is not a stop; we are yet to reach our destination. We have to spread this campaign far south, far east, far west, and in the entire nation. And I also believe that once the saints and sages of this country have taken this in their hands, this movement will not stop.”