Pilgrims, politics and the Covid-19 pandemic

The SC recently took suo moto cognisance of the decision of the UP government to allow Kawad Yatra amid the Covid-19 pandemic

The coronavirus does not distinguish between a pilgrim, a pub-goer and a politician. Nor between a secular soccer fan attending a tournament or a believer marching alongside other believers.

What is then the way ahead for societies where religion, for better or worse, is embedded in everyday thought and life at a time when the pandemic has reignited the old debate between religion and science?

As an agnostic, I acknowledge that, on the one hand, religion can be a sanctuary when everything seems uncertain. On the other, there is no getting away from religiously-sanctioned practices and gatherings being potential super-spreaders of the virus. It is also obvious that the coronavirus has changed so much about how we live that it was inevitable that it would alter how we play, pray or even die.

In a deeply religious and increasingly polarised country like India, this has thrown up piquant moments - there is no consensus among Hindutva protagonists on the best pathway to God.

It also makes all of us face the Indian pilgrim's story - a mix of religion, politics and judiciary with twists and turns and high-decibel talk about a possible third wave of the pandemic.

The man of the moment

Which brings me to the man of the moment - Uttarakhand's new Chief Minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, who philosophically says, "Kawad Yatra is a matter of faith, but God would not want people to lose their lives for faith."

The Kawad Yatra is an annual pilgrimage of devotees of Shiva. They collect water from the river Ganga (usually at Haridwar in Uttarakhand) and offer it at Shiva temples in their home states. This year, the yatra is supposed to kick off on July 25 and end on August 6. However, there is uncertainty about the pilgrims' onward march as large swathes of the country continue to grapple with a second wave of the pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has warned about a third wave.

Dhami is in the news for mustering the courage to call off the Kawad Yatra on public health grounds. The Uttarakhand chapter of the Indian Medical Association had been petitioning the state government to cancel the yatra; the state government did just that this week, after dilly-dallying and talking about consulting other states. Interestingly, Dhami had met Prime Minister Modi before he decided to call off the yatra.

But the story has got complicatedly Indian. The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttarakhand may have decided to call off the Kawad Yatra. But another BJP-ruled state, neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, which has Yogi Adityanath, a priest, as chief minister, wishes to go ahead with it while ordering some curbs. All too formulaically, the matter is in the court now.

Read | Kawad Yatra: No lessons learned

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice RF Nariman took suo moto cognisance of the decision of the Uttar Pradesh Government to allow Kawad Yatra amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We read something disturbing in the Indian Express today that the state of UP has chosen to continue with the Kawad Yatra, while the state of Uttarakhand, with its hindsight of experience, has said that there will be no Yatra. We wish to know what the stand of the respective governments is. The citizens of India are completely perplexed," Justice Nariman said to India's Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, according to LiveLaw, a legal portal.

"They don't know what is going on. And all this amid the prime minister, when asked about a third wave of Covid striking the nation, saying 'we cannot compromise even one bit'," Nariman said.

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre, the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and directed them to file an early response so that the matter can be heard on Friday).

In 2019, the last time the Kawad Yatra was held, nearly 3.5 crore pilgrims had visited Haridwar, while over 2-3 crore people had visited pilgrimage spots in Western UP.

The big picture and doable strategies

Public health specialist Dr Chandrakant Lahariya acknowledges that "from the public health perspective, any congregation or procession, including religious ones, adds to risk of transmission of the coronavirus."

Yet, "one must recognise that there will be political, social and cultural considerations. Therefore, a complete ban is ideal, but something which may not be practical," he says.

"We must institute sustained dialogue with community members and representatives of all religions. It is not just about one yatra. Whether it is the Kawad Yatra or some other religious procession, or opening up of a place of worship, there need to be standard protocols with reasonable restrictions. Self-regulation is not always the best approach." Lahariya points to recent images from places like Kempty Falls (in Mussoorie, Uttarkhand), where huge numbers of holidaymakers congregated.

Read | Frozen numbers, fluid faiths

The state government eventually decided to slap restrictions. Lahariya says what is being done to restrict tourists' entry to Kempty Falls offers lessons that should be replicated for other gatherings - the number of people must be strictly monitored.

What is most important, he points out, is to have the same set of rules for gatherings of all religions, the same rules for non-religious gatherings, and rope in religious groups in spreading awareness about risks and the need to follow public health protocols.

Arguably, there are challenges even with the best-laid plans.

Hill state Uttarakhand attracts lay tourists and pilgrims in equal measure. It hosted the Maha Kumbh Mela at Haridwar this year, but as we all know, the virus had a field day despite all the talk about Covid protocols. Media reports subsequently revealed that fake names, mobile numbers and addresses were used in more than 100,000 tests during the Kumbh festival in April. Many reports from other states suggest that those who returned from the festival ended up infecting many people.

The Uttarakhand High Court has stayed the state's plans of holding another popular pilgrimage, the Char Dham Yatra. Interestingly, the Dhami government has moved the Supreme Court against the state High Court order staying the Char Dham Yatra while reversing a state cabinet's decision to open it partially for residents of three districts from July 1. Is there a contradiction here? Uttarkhand says 'no. It argues that the Char Dham Yatra draws a smaller crowd.

Political observers say there is possibly a local vs outsider angle at play here. The Uttarakhand government wants residents to do the Char Dham Yatra, while the High Court has said no one should do it.

Even as twists and turns in Kawad Yatra remain centrestage, there have been other religious gatherings - the annual Ashada Bonalu celebration, for example, which kicked off in Hyderabad with hundreds of devotees thronging the Goddess Jagadamba temple atop the historic Golconda Fort. News reports show that many people participating in the Bonalu festival were not wearing masks.

But interestingly, the Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival) of Lord Jagannath and other Hindu deities, most famously in Puri, Odisha, and in many other Indian cities, has won plaudits for following Covid-19 norms far more stringently.

"Small-scale religious festivals can be conducted. But huge ones are difficult to control. We also need to think about the massive deployment of police personnel in these festivals. They have to go home too. In Puri, Odisha, policemen were pulling the chariots last year. This year, it is only the servitors (pandas). There were also smaller gatherings as compared to last year. They have learnt some lessons. Puri has a total curfew this year, too," says health policy analyst Dr Sambit Dash.

At the time of writing, the curfew in Puri, imposed from 8.00 PM of July 11 to 8.00 PM of July 13 in view of the Rath Yatra and Covid-19, has been withdrawn in some areas by the district administration.

The annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Ahmedabad was also held this year without the usual crowd.

All this goes to show that religion can and has adapted to the exigencies of the pandemic.

There are global examples as well, including from the Islamic world. As early as mid-February 2020, Al-Azhar, Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and a venerable centre of Islamic learning, held a conference on preventive measures, educating attendees (largely Al-Azhar community members) on the nature of the coronavirus, preventive steps as well as on treatment methods in the event of illness.

In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah stated that only "immunised people" will be permitted to perform Umrah and prayers in the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca.

The bottom line – no religion is diminished by following pandemic-appropriate norms. And religious leaders can be allies. What matters most is political will and energy to ensure that Covid protocols are followed each time there is a gathering, secular or religious, and to have the exact same rules for everyone, without any exception.

There is another equally important lesson -- fakery and optics do not work in the time of a pandemic. Allow some people to game the system by fake diagnostic tests, fake cures and so on, and the virus will have the last laugh.

The writer is a Delhi-based journalist.