Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday expressed his support for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The latter had criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over the mismanagement of the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Banerjee had called the event a “Mrityu Kumbh” (Death Kumbh), highlighting the high number of deaths and missing persons that occurred during the event.
Speaking to reporters in Lucknow, Yadav agreed with Banerjee’s accusations, claiming the Uttar Pradesh government was concealing the true extent of the deaths and disappearances. He also accused the government of making poor arrangements for the event and alleged large-scale corruption. He echoed Banerjee’s remarks that many people from Bengal had died during the Kumbh, but FIRs had not been filed, and postmortems were not conducted on their bodies.
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Yadav criticised the Uttar Pradesh government’s handling of the event, especially Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s earlier statement that arrangements had been made for 100 crore people. According to Yadav, this statement gave people confidence, but the reality was different. He argued that the event saw the highest number of deaths, missing persons, and cases of people falling ill. “The BJP is taking advantage of people’s sentiments. This Kumbh has witnessed the highest number of deaths and missing persons,” he said.
Spiritual leader Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Maharaj, too, supported the CM Banerjee, saying that the religious event has been mismanaged.
“There was a traffic jam of 300 kilometres, one wonders what else could be is mismanagement? People had to walk nearly 30 km with their luggage. Even the water coming for bathing is mixed with sewage water and the scientists don’t consider it fit for bathing. Yet you are forcing crores of people to bathe in it,” the spiritual leader told the media.
He was referring to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) report of January 12-13, which said that the river quality did not meet the bathing criteria for most locations. However, the quality with respect to Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) met the criteria.
“Your job was to either stop the drains for a few days or divert them so that people could get pure water while bathing. You knew 12 years ago that Kumbh would come, then why did you not make any efforts in this regard?” the leader questioned.
Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee had also spoken about the incident in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. She questioned the planning for the event and pointed to the January 29 tragedy and the recent stampede at New Delhi railway station. She alleged that the government had allowed overcrowding and failed to prevent these incidents. Banerjee also claimed that the bodies of Bengal residents who died in Prayagraj were not sent for postmortem by the Uttar Pradesh authorities.
In addition to the mismanagement, Banerjee accused the BJP of using religion for financial gain, claiming that the Maha Kumbh was organised to make money. She said the BJP was trying to destroy Bengal’s unique culture, which she argued was rooted in a rich history.
The BJP condemned Banerjee’s remarks, calling them disrespectful to the Maha Kumbh. Party leaders demanded strong protests against her statements, with Suvendu Adhikari labelling them as an insult. Pradeep Bhandari, a BJP spokesperson, accused Banerjee of harbouring “hate for Sanatan and Hindus.”
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