Modi@2: Transform Varanasi, Imitating Kyoto Will Take Us Nowhere

The people of Varanasi don’t want Wi-Fi, they want the government to use technology to better the infrastructure.

The polluted banks and waters of the river Ganga at Varanasi. (Photo: Reuters)

Nearly two years have passed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also happens to be a sitting MP from Varanasi constituency, signed the Kashi-Kyoto protocol on 30 August 2014, but not much has changed here. The Ganges still wears a tarnished colour, the air still smells dusty and traffic jams are still as integral to day-to-day life as kachori, jalebi and paan. In one line, there is no sign to indicate the promised transformation.

Nothing epitomises the daylight between the promised future and the existing reality better than the current status of the scheme offering free Wi-Fi service across the ghats.

Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Modi shake hands at the Tokyo Summit in 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

It was in February last year (2015) that Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated a Wi-Fi service on the Sheetla and Dashashwamedh ghats. Prasad had then promised to expand the coverage of Wi-Fi to other ghats in the subsequent months.

A year and three months later, the Wi-Fi facility exists at these ghats in name only. The promised expansion has not taken place and at ghats where the facility exists, the signal is so poor that visitors do not even bother to give it a try now.

A smartphone wielding friend of mine, who visits ghats every evening, summed up her experience:

When I first heard of free Wi-Fi service at Assi ghat, I rushed there with some of my equally excited friends. We were very happy when we saw our mobile phones displaying a ‘Wi-Fi available’ icon. However, once we connected to it, we received signals of very poor strength which put us off. Now, we never check it. The network that we use on our phone is much better. 

On a personal front, I have found this entire move of giving the ghats a Wi-Fi makeover an ill conceived one. The government’s logic behind providing Wi-Fi service is that it will give an impetus to the tourism business in the city.

What it has overlooked is that Varanasi is already an established tourist centre. It is a cultural city. People do not come here to use Wi-Fi. They come here for sightseeing.

They face inconvenience because of lack of basic amenities. If the government really wants to use technology for the betterment of the city, it must find ways to incorporate the use of new technologies in the promotion of Banarasi saree, carpet and handloom industries. These traditional industries need a technological support more than ghats.

Sana Sabah, a city-based young web professional, had an interesting take on this issue as well:

What we really need is a good and tidy infrastructure, neat and clean roads without potholes and 24*7 electricity. Wi-Fi is just a lollipop tossed to us. The irony is that we can’t even eat this lollipop properly.

Narendra Modi at Varanasi during campaigning for general elections in 2014 (L). Cover of Lance Price’s book ‘The Modi effect’ (R). (Photo: Reuters)

So, what does the future look like for the city aiming to become a Kyoto?

As the Modi government has completed two years in office, it needs to first find out areas where the city needs a makeover. Banaras is different from Kyoto. What worked there may not work here. Imitation will take us nowhere. Banaras’ USP is its culture. A way has to be unearthed to give it a modern outlook without tampering with its core values. Only then the ‘achhe din’ dream will see the light of the day here in the holy city.

(The writer is a student at Banaras Hindu University)