State CM says people’s health is a priority but matters of faith cannot be totally ignored.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Amid criticism of massive crowds at Kumbh Mela in Hariduwar, Uttarakhand government on Thursday refused to cancel the huge religious gathering of devotees.
“The Kumbh Mela used to begin in January, but looking at the Covid situation, the state government decided to start it in April this time. The centre’s SOP said because of the situation, the duration would be reduced. I have no information of it being curtailed,” said Deepak Rawat, District Magistrate, Haridwar, and Kumbh Mela officer.
In view of the great surge in the second wave of Coronavirus, many people including prominent figures have harshly criticized the government for allowing such huge gathering of Kumbh mela. Bollywood director and producer Ram Gopal Verma is one among those who has been continuously criticizing the Kumbh mela gathering.
In a tweet, Verma asked Uttarakhand CM that whether he took kickbacks to allow such gathering.
But who will make the Honourable Uttarakhand CM understand the depth in ur tweet because he’s obviously dumber than dumb ..I think there should be an investigation on the kick backs he’s getting for letting this Covid bomb happen https://t.co/rVNxrtsfCY
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) April 14, 2021
Sharing a video of a massive gathering, he called Kumbh Mela ‘Corona Mela’.
Here’s the CORONA MELA..Inviting whole INDIA to come and join the KUMBH ..Let’s all go to HARIDWAR where there are no COVID restrictions and we will all PRAY to make the CORONA GO AWAY..JAI HARIDWAR COVID MANAGEMENT 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/QENQtojeAP
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) April 15, 2021
Here’s the final solution for saving ourselves from COVID ..All believers should go to KUMBH MELA and all non believers should go to CHINA because that seems to be the only country where there’s no COVID pic.twitter.com/Ff5IizuRqo
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) April 15, 2021
In another tweet, he said that lakhs of people are getting covid as a blessing from the Kumbh mela.
Lakhs are dipping in kumbh mela to wash off their karma and as a blessing are getting the covid and then they are further gifting it to many more and when they die all will get double karma.😍😍😍😍
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) April 14, 2021
There were others who pointed to the double standard approach of the government with regard to the religious gathering. They recalled how the government hounded the Tablighi Jamaat preachers for holding a congregation last year in March when the cases of infection were nominal.
In the middle of a deadly pandemic, the Indian Govt in all its senses allowed and even facilitated the gathering of 2.8 million people on a single day for Kumbh.
No other country on Earth has done anything like this.
But you can’t question this ugly Majority appeasement.— Arfa Khanum Sherwani (@khanumarfa) April 13, 2021
Reacting to backlash against the Kumbh mela, Uttarakhand CM Rawat said people’s health is a priority but matters of faith cannot be totally ignored.
“Cases have of course risen of late but we are following the health ministry guidelines and the recovery rate is good. Arrangements are also adequate to deal with any situation,” he said.
He also refused to compare the situation of Kumbh Mela to that of Tablighi Jamaat saying that the government is taking all covid-19 measures.
However, the data provided to the media shows that 1,701 devotees have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last five days. Among millions of people, the test has been conducted on around 2.37 lakh people.
There are also reports of deaths of those who have attended the gathering.
Head of Maha Nirvani Akhara Kapildev, who was in Haridwar to take part in Kumbh Mela, died at Kailash Hospital, Dehradun on Thursday after he tested positive for COVID19.
According to Haridwar’s Chief Medical Officer Shambhu Kumar Jha, more RT-PCR test reports are awaited and the trend shows that the number of infected persons in the Kumbh Mela site is likely to climb to 2,000.
