India celebrates Kumbh Mela, the largest pilgrimage in the world, despite the concerns of Covid-19

(CNN) – Every year, tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims enter the Ganges in search of salvation from the eternal cycle of life and death. Holy men conduct prayers and offer blessings, and devotees wash their sins in the holy waters.

But this year, India’s Kumbh Mela – the largest pilgrimage on Earth – is raising the alarm, with some officials warning of a possible mass outbreak in Covid-19 if the crowds gather and bathe without masks.

Kumbh Mela, a mass pilgrimage of months, is one of the most important Hindu celebrations. According to some myths behind the festival, the water of the Ganges river turns into “amrita”, or the nectar of immortality, on certain days.

It is believed that bathing in the sacred waters of “sangam”, where the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers meet, achieves “moksha”, or liberation from the cycle of life and death.

The pilgrimage was to begin on Thursday, known as Makar Sankranti, or the first day of the holy baths. But this year, the authorities decided to postpone the pilgrimage for a month.

“We are going to issue it for (the pilgrimage) to start sometime in the third week of February,” and last until the end of April, said Madan Kaushik, Uttarakhand Minister for Urban Development and Housing. Within those few months, there will be four days designated for people to dive in the Ganges, he said.

“This festival will no longer be postponed. We will take due care and do our best, but we will not delay or cancel Kumbh Mela ”, he added.

Despite the postponement, hundreds of thousands of people from across the country gathered in the ancient city of Haridwar, in the state of Uttarakhand, on Thursday to celebrate Makar Sankranti.

The devotees started arriving on Wednesday; the photos show families diving into the river, groups walking or sitting on the banks and holy men offering night prayers. Shopkeepers decorated their shop windows, while outdoor vendors placed their wares along the streets in anticipation of the crowd. As of Thursday, about 700,000 people were present, according to Kaushik.

As the first crowds plunged into the waters, authorities prepared for the potential for an over-spreading event, with the country still reporting between up to 20,000 new cases of Covid-19 a day.

A potential ‘breeding ground’

However, officials warn that with a vaccine or not, the danger of infection is still high, and residents should continue to take precautions.

The Uttarakhand Supreme Court issued a court order on January 11, highlighting the danger of the festival and asking authorities to provide more detailed security measures. Unless the flow of people is controlled, with safe accommodation and transport, “the Kumbh Mela 2021 could become the breeding ground for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the court warned.

“As people from across the country and abroad gather in Kumbh Mela, the COVID-19 infection can be carried by pilgrims to different parts of the country,” said the court, adding that the government needed “concrete plans” to minimize the threat.

Devotees from outside the city will need to undergo thermal scanning and random test sampling, Additional Haridwar District Magistrate KK Mishra said on Thursday. District administrators have been deployed across the city to raise awareness and provide security training for tenants and business owners, he said.

On Thursday, teams of volunteers carried out temperature checks on devotees near the Ganges. People who wish to participate in the holy baths must also register online and receive e-passes, according to CNN-News 18. National guidelines are still in effect, including mandatory face masks and a mandatory social distance rule in public spaces .

But it is not clear how strictly these precautions will be followed, or how they will be applied – especially during next month’s pilgrimage.

Thursday’s photos show people huddled on the banks of the river, without the necessary distance between individuals. Many of those portrayed wore masks or covers, but a considerable number were also bare-faced, including children and the elderly – and especially during group rituals.

There is also no guarantee that people will wait until the official start date. The significant religious dates are based on the astrological positions of the planets, so devotees may well travel to the Ganges on those dates for holy baths, regardless of the authorities’ approval.

Increasing religious tensions

The authorities have good reason to be nervous. Around the world, several religious gatherings have caused Covid-19 clusters, some spreading beyond their community to the entire nation.

One of the first and best-known cases was that of the religious group Shincheonji, which became the center of South Korea’s outbreak in February. In March, thousands of cases were linked to its members – more than half of all cases in the country at the time – generating local blockades. and extensive contact tracking and testing.

India faced its own crisis in mid-March, when a meeting of a conservative Muslim missionary group in New Delhi resulted in a highly publicized grouping. Thousands of members traveled from all over the country and abroad to the event – in the following months, more than 4,200 cases were linked to the meeting, in 23 states and territories of the union.

But the Muslim group’s meeting was met with much stronger public rush and hostility than in other countries, largely due to long-standing Muslim-Hindu tensions in India, which increased alongside fear and paranoia during the pandemic. .

The majority of India’s 1.3 billion population is Hindu; Muslims make up about 200 million people in the country. The Delhi grouping has broadened existing prejudices, which have grown in recent years under Modi’s nationalist Hindu Bharatiya Janata (BJP) Party. Muslims across the country reported being persecuted and beaten; some had their homes invaded by the police; some BJP leaders described the meeting as an act of terrorism.

Other non-Muslim meetings still took place during the same period, but faced significantly less reaction. For example, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state traveled to another city for a Hindu ritual, even after the blockade was announced, allegedly surrounded by at least 20 people. Later, his media adviser told local media that there were about 10 people present.

There was almost no sign of public outcry this week, too, for the hundreds of thousands of Hindus who gathered in Haridwar. Modi, who has a strong Hindu base, tweeted about the holiday on Thursday, without mentioning Covid-19 or security measures.

“Makar Sankranti (the first day of the holy baths) is marked with enthusiasm in various parts of India,” he wrote. “This auspicious festival illustrates the diversity of India and the vibrancy of our traditions.”

Indian political commentator Sanjay Kapoor is not surprised that authorities are moving ahead with the pilgrimage next month, despite obvious security concerns.

“I don’t think it will ever be canceled – it’s too big,” he said, adding that the festival has grown substantially since the BJP came to power, reflecting its emphasis on Hindu nationalism – as well as the culture and political influence of India’s Hindu majority. . It is even more striking when one considers that the Muslim meeting in March was “poisonously” targeted and made an example of, he said.

“They are not even allowing Parliament to meet because of Covid, but these mega events can happen. How do you explain this to the world?” Kapoor said. “The pandemic has not gone away.”