The organisers of the ‘2024 Maha Kumbh’, an epochal event that, according to the faith of believers, comes only once in 144 years, were quite clear in their mission - to create a great spectacle of a religious/ cultural occasion and present it as a unifying event in modern history.
Of course, such a mammoth event of gigantic proportions may not be as perfectly organised as people may expect it to be, but it was still managed well, except for the stampede that left about 30 people dead. It was more of a cultural than a sectarian event. People from across the country, many holding different faiths and beliefs, took the holy dip, which they believed had a divine impact.
For reasons not very difficult to fathom, major opposition parties like the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal, not only distanced themselves from the event, but went further by questioning the beliefs related to the Maha Kumbh.
Interestingly, the opposition came from Congress president Mallikarhun Kharge, former Bihar chief minister and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee.
By blatantly opposing the belief of about 70 crore people, these leaders wanted to convey a subtle message to a particular section of the “voters” in their respective states - that they were “too secular to identify with the Maha Kumbh”. Bihar goes to polls later this year and elections in West Bengal are scheduled next year. In both the states, there is a section of people which devotedly supports these two parties.
The opposition by these leaders notwithstanding, the 45-day long Maha Kumbh has definitely reaffirmed and reinforced the great Indian cultural identity with hardly any parallels across the world. Cutting across all divisions and differences, whether caste, cultural, regional, sectarian or lingual, people mixed, mingled and merged together in the crucible of cultural unity in a great “common bath”.
Between 65 and 70 crore people took the divine dip during the Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj, the holy confluence of Ganga, Jamuna and mythical Sarswati, over a period of 45 days. Based on the planetary positions, which keep on changing, the next Maha Kumbh will take place after 144 years. The presence and participation of people from across the country was epochal. People from other faiths even came from different parts of the world.
Their discomfiture was understandable. The Maha Kumbh celebrations were organised by the Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath, who neither likes to act “politically correct”, nor does he hide his faith and identity.
The role of the BJP government at the Centre was equally important. Both the governments identified with the celebrations. Even if it were any other party’s government, whether in UP or at the Centre, their participation would be mandatory. Such events of epochal proportions with such mammoth participation can never be organised without the government participation and support.
This spectacle of unity and uniformity has obviously had its own set of critics like Kharge, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mamata Bannerjee, who countered the Maha Kumbh narrative in their own way. While Kharge infamously remarked, “you can’t fill an empty stomach with a holy dip”, Yadav questioned the significance of the event, saying it is ‘faaltu’ (useless), while Bannerjee disputed the claim that the Maha Kumbh will be held only after 144 years.
Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was quite subtle and tactful in his observations, lest he would risk his political career for being seen like his late father, who is known for firing at Kar Sevaks during the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement, killing many of them on a bridge over the river Saryu.
The purpose and intention of these “opposition” politicians was quite obvious. The opposition leaders apparently assumed that all those who took the holy dip belonged to a “particular” ideology and thought process. Since there were no caste, sectarian or regional divisions visible anywhere, which they could play up, they resorted to raising questions in a different manner.
Not surprisingly, none of the leading opposition leaders took a holy dip during the Maha Kumbh celebrations. Barring some leaders like Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu or other senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, no prominent opposition leader, particularly from the Congress, was seen at the Maha Kumbh. Even if any of them went there, it was kept private.
Surprisingly, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, both of whom have deep connection with Uttar Pradesh and both pronounce their Hindu faith prominently from time to time, also preferred to abstain from the holy dip. While initially they had reportedly planned to take a bath there, they later abandoned the idea for obvious reasons.
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While the RJD and TMC are known for practicing minority communalism, Congress was known for maintaining a balance. Former Congress prime ministers like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narsimha Rao were never defensive about their religious beliefs. At the same time, nobody would question their commitment to secularism either. However, under the current dispensation, the Congress leaders appear to be either reluctant or apprehensive of even being seen to be practicing any faith.
By keeping a distance from the Maha Kumbh, the Congress leaders have, deliberately or inadvertently, conveyed a clear message that has not been lost on anyone. Ideally, the principal opposition party should have taken a stand that would suggest that it does identify with people of all faiths. Nobody would hold that against the party.
It was undoubtedly the discretion of the Congress leaders to stay away from the Maha Kumbh, but “absence” from such events becomes conspicuous and that, too, when it is intentional. It was obviously aimed at conveying a message to a certain section of people for reasons not hidden from anyone.
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