How the Kumbh Mela lays bare BJP's double standards

If the Uttarakhand government’s decision to give this year’s Kumbh Mela event at Haridwar the green signal amid spiralling Covid-19 infections was reckless, its stubborn refusal to cut short the event is not only grossly irresponsible and short-sighted but also unconscionable. Authorities knew that millions would converge at Haridwar. They said that guidelines were in place to ensure that assembled devotees would wear masks and maintain social distancing as per Covid-19 norms. Police would be on hand to enforce the rules and those who failed to adhere to the norms would be given a mask and meted out punishment. Did they seriously think they would be able to control the situation when millions were congregating at the site?

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It does seem that the Uttarakhand government was not concerned about the implications of its decision to hold the event. Photographs and videos of the event show massive crowding of unmasked people. How could Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat allow this when the country’s daily new Covid-19 cases has crossed the two lakh mark? Over 2,000 people at the Kumbh Mela site have tested positive over the past two days. These numbers will climb in the coming days.

One would have thought that having made the mistake of holding the Kumbh Mela, the Rawat government would spring into action to correct it on seeing the chaos unfolding in Haridwar and the large number of Covid cases recorded among those participating there. It has not. Instead of cutting short the Kumbh Mela, it has shortened the night curfew period.

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Last year, when several participants in a Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in New Delhi tested positive for Covid-19, the BJP government and Sangh Parivar activists let loose Islamophobic hate rhetoric. Muslims were blamed for the nationwide spread of the virus and accused of carrying out a ‘corona jihad.’ In the months since, while the Markaz remains shut and restrictions imposed on mass prayers in mosques, no such restrictions are considered necessary for the Kumbh Mela. The BJP’s blatant double standards have been laid bare yet again.

The Kumbh Mela may emerge as a ‘super-spreader’ event. Yet Rawat and other BJP leaders are encouraging people to participate in the events claiming that the “blessings of Ma Ganga will ensure that coronavirus does not spread.” They are playing a dangerous game. Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains silent, unwilling to anger the Parivar or alienate the Hindutva hardliners. It is still not too late. The Kumbh Mela must be shut down. Now.