Only Sanatani people should be allotted land for shops at Maha Kumbh: Hindu saints' body

The Hindu saints' body Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP) has said that they won't allow any non-Sanatanis/non-Hindus to set up shops during the Maha Kumbh in Uttar Pradesh.

The Kumbh Mela is supposed to be held on the banks of the Ganga in Prayagraj on Makar Sankranti, that is, January 14. The 'parishad' said it will be holding a meeting in Prayagraj to outline its demands next week and will take a decision soon, a report in The Times of India said.

ABAP chief Mahant Ravindra Puri reportedly said that institutions or shopkeepers whose heads are not Hindus, Sikhs, Jains or Buddhists should not be given land and facilities to set up camps in Maha Kumbh.

TOI quoted Puri as saying that they don't have anything against any community or caste but purported videos showing food items containing spit and urine mixed in them have forced the body to take this step.

"This hurts the sentiments of the followers of Sanatan Dharma. If someone does such a disgusting act in the Kumbh Mela area, then the Naga sanyasis can get angry and resort to violence against them," he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, authorities are racing against time to put things in place before the 2025 Maha Kumbh. About 500 projects of central and state governments involving various departments, 15 of them from Uttar Pradesh alone, are at different stages of completion, officials said.

During his October 6 visit to Prayagraj, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced the extension of the project-completion deadline by 15 days to December 15.

Adityanath had earlier emphasised that the upcoming Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj would be "more divine and grand" than all previous Kumbhs.