The Taj Mahal is Agra’s identity, but the Yamuna is its soul. For more than a decade, the River Connect campaign has been trying to bring this forgotten river back into the city’s consciousness.

Launched around 2014-15, this citizens’ movement was never merely a cleanliness drive. Its real objective was to reconnect people with the Yamuna. It included evening aartis, volunteer clean-up drives, marches, havans, and signature campaigns. At times, its unusual protests were so striking that they attracted national media attention.

The daily Yamuna Aarti at the Etmad-ud-Daulah View Point became the campaign’s most enduring symbol. Since 2015, large numbers of people have gathered every evening for the ritual. The number of devotees and volunteers steadily increased.

But the aarti was never just a religious ceremony. After the prayers, people discussed the Yamuna’s condition, pollution, garbage, water shortage and broken government promises. NDTV’s Swachh India also highlighted the daily aarti and Sunday clean-up drives. Usually, 30-40 volunteers participated, though the number sometimes crossed 100.

River Connect’s philosophy was simple: first bring people back to the river, then turn the fight to save it into a people’s movement.

In May 2016, the campaign staged a protest that remained memorable for years. Activists took a ‘sand bath’ on the banks of the Yamuna. Instead of water, they rubbed the river’s dry sand over their bodies, raising an uncomfortable question: If there is no water in the river, how can anyone bathe in it?

They pointed out that the Yamuna’s water crisis becomes an election issue every time, but disappears as soon as the elections are over.

A similar protest was staged on Ganga Dussehra. IANS reported it as a ‘royal sand bath’. The message was blunt: The Yamuna needs water, not speeches.

Satirising government promises has also been a distinctive feature of the campaign. To remind authorities of the promised Delhi-Agra water transport service, activists launched paper and thermocol boats into the Yamuna.

The Indian Express reported in 2017 that the boats travelled only a short distance towards the Taj Mahal before sinking. The scene was almost a perfect metaphor: preparations were being made to run boats, but the river itself was not navigable.

During this period, the campaign also demanded uninterrupted water flow, river cleaning, protection of the floodplain, a national river policy and a Central River Authority.

During Sunday clean-up drives, volunteers removed plastic, polythene, idols, garbage and construction debris. But River Connect has consistently argued that simply sweeping the riverbank will not revive the river.

Its real demands are much broader, tapping drains, treating sewage, removing silt from the riverbed, dredging, clearing encroachments from the floodplain and ensuring a minimum environmental flow throughout the year.

These demands were raised again during World Water Day in 2023, along with cleaning and aarti programmes. In 2025, joint clean-up drives with the municipal corporation involved schoolchildren, citizens and officials. During one major drive, around 25 tractor-trolleys were filled with garbage.

In December 2021, River Connect observed ‘Jhunjhuna Day’. Activists shook rattles for five minutes to protest what they described as the alleged inaction of elected representatives.

Brij Khandelwal, the Conveyor, accused public representatives of indifference towards the Yamuna. Dr Devashish Bhattacharya used satire to say that the Yamuna was dirty earlier, remains dirty today, and, if public representatives have their way, will remain dirty in the future. It captured the campaign’s style perfectly: when memorandums fail, shake a rattle to wake up those in power.

River Connect has repeatedly argued that the Yamuna is not merely an environmental issue. It is also a question of Agra’s heritage, tourism and economy.

The Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and several other historic monuments stand along the Yamuna. The Indian Express has also highlighted the connection between Yamuna pollution and the protection of the Taj Mahal.

The campaign’s question is simple: If the marble around the Taj Mahal can be protected, why should the river behind it be allowed to die?

River Connect’s major demands include a barrage near the Taj Mahal, minimum water flow throughout the year, dredging and desilting, tapping of drains, sewage treatment, removal of floodplain encroachments, restoration of ghats and action against polluters.

For years, the campaign has also demanded a national river policy and a Central River Authority. Its argument is straightforward: rivers do not recognise administrative boundaries. Their protection, therefore, cannot remain divided between departments and states.

River Connect’s achievement cannot be measured only in tonnes of garbage removed or the number of events organised. Its greatest achievement is that it reminded Agra of its river.

The daily aarti brought the Yamuna back into public life. Clean-up drives encouraged citizen participation. The sand bath exposed the tragedy of a dry river. Paper boats mocked government promises. Jhunjhuna Day took a satirical swipe at political indifference.

Governments changed. Schemes came and went. Committees were formed. Announcements were made. Yet the Yamuna still longs for water and a natural flow.

Even so, its evenings are not completely dark. Every evening, the lamps glowing on the banks of the Yamuna at Etmad-ud-Daulah raise a haunting question: Can we save the Taj Mahal and allow the river behind it to die? River Connect’s answer is clear: No.

The Yamuna does not merely need to be cleaned. It needs to be revived as a living, free-flowing, clean and respected river.