MASSIVE CROWDS AT INDIA’S KUMBH MELA AMID HUGE SPIKE IN CORONAVIRUS CASES

Tue 13 April 2021:

As the second wave of Coronavirus epidemic is wreaking havoc across India, reports coming on Monday from Haridwar in Uttarakhand are alarming. Here two-month-long Kumbh Mela is in progress. Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees have gathered by the Ganges River for a special prayer called Somvati Amavasya that marks the biggest bathing day. Reports suggest that flouting of social distancing practices is widespread with authorities admitting that it’s simply not possible to make people follow the strict Covid norms.

By mid-morning a million people had taken a dip in the river, believed to wash away one’s sins. “We are continuously appealing to people to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. But due to the huge crowd, it is practically not possible,” senior police officer Sanjay Gunjyal said.

Health experts had advised the government to cancel the festival but the advice was ignored. The government had earlier said that only people with Covid negative reports would be allowed at the festival and strict measures like social distancing would be followed.

But a number of people, including top saints, have already tested positive. This has given rise to fears that Monday’s bathing day will help the infection spread faster among the devotees and that some of them could also take the virus back to their cities and villages in other parts of the country.

Authorities in Haridwar said the length of the festival has been shortened from previous years, but it has been extremely difficult to implement social distancing measures.

While Kumbh is going viral on Twitter due to devotees putting out tweets appreciating the festival, there are also people who are criticising the holy gathering. Several have taken to Twitter to express their concern about COVID-19 spreading further at Kumbh due to the lack of norms being followed.

The controversy doesn’t end here. Many are also relating this event to the Islamic congregation ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ that attracted a lot of negative attention last April. The national media criticised the Jamaat at length alleging that the Jamaat’s irresponsible gathering spread COVID0-19 in the nation. Cases were also filed against those who attended the congregation.

Many are pointing out that the same national media that day and night bashed the Jamaat on Television is now quiet about the enormous crowd at Kumbh.

On the other hand, others believe that this debate is being carried out solely to defame Hinduism and its festivals. A religious and political controversy is thus being played out on Twitter.

A tweet by Dhruv Rathee, a YouTuber and social media activist, conveys the concerns that the nation has over the ongoing Kumbh Mela.

“Tablighi Jamat

Date: April 2020; Daily Cases in India: 500; People who attended: 5,000; Godi Media Label: Corona Jihad

Kumbh Mela

Date: April 2021; Daily Cases in India: 170,000; People who attended: 2 million+; Godi Media Label: Devotees”

👉Tablighi Jamat

Date: April 2020
Daily Cases in India: ~500
People who attended: ~5000
Godi Media Label: Corona Jihad

👉Kumbh Mela

Date: April 2021
Daily Cases in India: ~170,000
People who attended: ~ 2 million+
Godi Media Label: Devotees

— Dhruv Rathee 🇮🇳 (@dhruv_rathee) April 12, 2021

होड़ लगी है दलालों की
कि कौन कितने अच्छे तलवे चाट लेता है । pic.twitter.com/nZ1RnqgQ5G

— Murugan 2.0🗨️ (@Anas_speakss) April 13, 2021

That awkward moment when
Right Wing Propaganda channel @SudarshanNewsTV quote tweets NDTV and calls it Fake News. 🤦🏼‍♂️😭 pic.twitter.com/hnAgP2EPYZ

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 13, 2021

More is known about the virus today than last year. More is known about treatment today than last year. Current case load is higher than last year. If Tablighi Jamaat was bad, Kumbh Mela is a borderline crime. Those who approved, chose to ignore guidelines must be behind bars.

— Hardik Rajgor (@Hardism) April 12, 2021

Thousands of devotees, some of them without masks, gathered by the river Ganges in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar for prayers during the #KumbhMela2021 pic.twitter.com/ISuZWVb3LK

— NDTV (@ndtv) April 12, 2021

Someone stop these Tablighi Jamaat people.. Oh wait… https://t.co/GannnzMRoK

— Harneet Singh (@Harneetsin) April 12, 2021

This nation, especially our media, owes an apology to the Tablighi Jamaat. https://t.co/Le1TjgP8Cp

— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) April 12, 2021

Journos like Sudhir Chaudhary who criticized Tablighi congregation last year.

has maintained absolute silence on MahaKumbh congregation this year. pic.twitter.com/7hmwpEPeYS

— Nita Thakur (@nithakur0) April 12, 2021

Meanwhile, on Monday, India logged more than 168,000 new cases, overtaking Brazil to become the country with the second-highest number of cases globally.

With the total case tally of more than 13.5 million cases, India is now only behind the United States which has reported more than 31 million cases. With 13.4 million cases, Brazil is now at number three.

Reports of a shortage of hospital beds and life-saving drugs have started coming in from different parts of the country.

The state of Maharashtra is particularly affected – accounting for an average of almost 30-40% of daily cases. Measures like night curfews and limited lockdowns have been taken but the green light given to the Kumbh Mela festival has baffled experts.

Some of them say that the worst is yet to come unless strict, urgent measures are taken, and that includes ramping up vaccinations.

India has given more than 100 million doses so far but the pace needs to further pick up to halt the spread of the virus, experts say.