A coalition of gurus has issued an ultimatum to India’s fragile Government: purify the chronically polluted Ganges, the river revered by Hindus, or face protests and political ruin.

Ganga Raksha Manch, a newly formed alliance of celebrity holy men, is demanding urgent action to cleanse the holy waterway, which has become a noxious cocktail of human and industrial waste, before a general election that must be held before May.

The movement, which holds sway over countless devotees’ votes, is being led by Baba Ramdev, a yoga teacher and spiritual leader who has won tens of millions of followers through his combination of anti-Western diatribe and a cable television show.

If the Government did not pay heed to the call for saving the Ganges, the agitation would take “a fierce turn”, he said.

He has been joined by Ravi Shankar, the 52-year-old leader of the Art of Living Foundation, who is a right-wing disciple of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The pair, who are both courted assiduously by Indian politicians and count prominent industrialists among their followers, are championing an issue that touches religious nerves. Hindu teachings may emphasise that Man should not alter his environment but at points the polluted Ganges appears to ooze, rather than flow.

More than 400 million people live along the banks of the river and most do not have proper lavatories. Some stretches have a faecal bacterial count nearly 4,000 times the World Health Organisation’s bathing standard limit.

This is a particular hazard for Hindu priests, who carry out a daily ritual in which they touch the sacred water, immerse themselves in it and drink what amounts to a cocktail of human and industrial effluent. Cases of water-borne disease such as typhoid, polio, jaundice and dysentery are common.

Nearby cremation grounds add to the problems. Thousands of corpses were reported in the waters last year.

The two gurus are demanding that treatment plants be built to end the dumping of untreated sewage in the Ganges. They also want the authorities to scrap plans to divert the river through underground tunnels to turbines, claiming that the process will lower oxygen levels. One protester linked to their movement has begun a “fast unto death” until the hydroelectric scheme is ditched.

Public impatience is growing over the corruption and political infighting that has beset a government “emergency plan” — begun 23 years ago — to save the river. The scheme has been allotted £300 million to no apparent end.

Baba Ramdev, a controversial figure who has claimed that yoga can cure HIV/Aids, said that the Congress-led Government has allowed the Ganges to fester. He is calling on it to give the waterway heritage status and to fine polluters, and is threatening to mobilise huge protests if his demands are not met. “The river is choking in filth,” he said. “Heritage status would ensure adequate protection.”

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