Sizedup festival serves Hindu nationalist agenda
SPIRITUALITY, politics and tourism: welcome to the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest gathering of humanity, which begins next month in
India.
During the Kumbh Mela, to be held in Prayagraj, in Uttar Pradesh, millions of pilgrims will bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and a mythical third river, the Saraswati.
Devout Hindus believe bathing in the Ganges absolves people of sins and bathing at the time of the Kumbh brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.
The Government says about 100 million to 150 million people, including one million foreign tourists, are expected to attend over the eightweek festival beginning on January 15.
Organisers are erecting temporary bridges, 600 mass kitchens, more than 100,000 portable toilets, and vast tents in a popup city on the banks of the two rivers.
And yet, based on tradition, next month’s event should not be quite so big — which is where politics and tourism come in.
The Kumbh Mela is traditionally held every three years in one of four cities along India’s sacred rivers. The next Kumbh Mela was due to be held in Prayagraj in 2025, but with a general election due by May in which the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party faces a tough contest, Uttar Pradesh has transformed a smaller Ardh, or ‘‘half’’ Kumbh Mela, into a full version of the festival.
The BJP controls both the federal and the Uttar Pradesh governments.
And this ‘‘half Kumbh’’ may be one of the biggest Kumbhs yet because of the state’s massive promotional efforts, especially as Prayagraj — until recently known as Allahabad — is seen as the holiest of the four sites.
Besides the upcoming election, the promotion coincides with an international charm offensive to improve the image of Uttar Pradesh, a state of more than 220 million people with a reputation for poverty and violence.
But the state’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk who is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has also been driving support for any event that celebrates the dominance of Hindu culture.
It was Adityanath who in October renamed Allahabad, a city of six million where there are nearly 800,000 Muslims, as Prayagraj, from its ancient name of Prayag, meaning ‘‘place of sacrifice’’ in Sanskrit.
Allahabad is a Muslim name given to the city by a Mughal emperor in 1575.
‘‘It is part of a Hindu nationalist agenda and is very worrying to us,’’ said Zafaryab Jilani, of the AllIndia Muslim Personal Law Board, which liaises with the Government on Muslim affairs.
‘‘There is no justification for changing these names.’’
Neither side is expecting tensions to lead to violence during the festival, but officials have boosted the number of police on duty fivefold compared with previous events.
The festival has its roots in a Hindu tradition that says the god Vishnu wrested a golden pot containing the nectar of immortality from demons. In a 12day fight for possession, four drops fell to earth, in the cities of Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik, who share the Kumbhs as a result. — Reuters