Yoga guru Swami Ramdev will now play a key role in the campaign to save the Ganga river, which is being spearheaded by the Ganga Raksha Manch. The Yoga guru and other sadhus participating in the campaign to save the Ganga will use the mala (garland) and the bhala (trident) to convince people to join in. "With the mala, we will welcome people to contribute and do shramdaan in the campaign and with the bhala we will impress upon them the cultural, religious and national significance of the Ganga river," a spokesman of the Ganga Raksha Manch told this correspondent on Friday. The inclusion of Swami Ramdev in the campaign was announced with much fanfare at the meeting of the Ganga Raksha Manch in Hardwar earlier this week. "However, there is no question of any individual leading the campaign. The Margdarshak Mandal will take crucial decisions and announce programmes for the campaign while individuals will organise and implement those programmes," the spokesman clarified. The inclusion of Swami Ramdev is apparently aimed at ensuring maximum mileage out of the campaign since he happens to be the most well-known sadhu across the world and has contacts with the biggest and the best in every filed of life. "With Swami Ramdev, we hope to get access to the government easily. We are planning to approach the President and the Prime Minister and urge them to declare the Ganga river as a national heritage. If this is done, then half the battle would be won," the spokesman added. Meanwhile, Swami Ramdev told reporters in Hardwar that if the Centre and state government did not pay heed to the sadhus' call for saving the Ganga, the agitation would take a "fierce turn". Swami Chidananda of Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh said that the Ganga Raksha Manch, which includes the RSS, VHP, various akharas, sadhus and other religious and social organisations, would surge ahead with the slogan "Chak de Ganga". The Ganga Raksha Manch, according to sources, plans to clean the river and ensure its uninterrupted flow from Gomukh to Uttarkashi in the first phase. Environmentalist G.D. Agarwal is already on a fast unto death in Uttarkashi to protest against hydropower projects in Uttarakhand that disturb the flow of the Ganga river. The activist has already achieved a major victory with Uttarakhand chief minister B.C. Khanduri stalling the Pala Maneri and Bhairon Ghati power projects indefinitely. "I support the plan to preserve the Ganga and I am ready to shelve the hydropower projects if the Centre agrees to meet the power requirements of the hill state," the activist told reporters.