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

(CNN) – Tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims wander into the Ganges River every year, seeking salvation from the eternal cycle of life and death. Holy men lead prayers and blessings, and their sins are consecrated in the holy waters.

But this year, Indian Kumbh Mela – the largest pilgrimage on earth – is sounding the alarm, and some authorities are warning of a possible mass outbreak of Covid-19 as crowds gather and bathe together without masks.

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

Bathing in the sacred waters of the “sangam”, where the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers meet, can achieve a “moksha” or release it from the cycle of life and death.

The pilgrimage would begin on Thursday, known as Makar Sankranti, or the first day of the holy baths. But this year, officials decided to push the pilgrimage back a month.

“We will reach out to start (the pilgrimage) somewhere in the third week of February,” and the end of April lasts, said Madan Kaushik, Minister of Urban Development and Housing in Uttarakhand. There will be four days that people in the Ganges can undertake within those few months, he said.

“This festival will not be postponed any further. We will take the precaution and do everything possible, but we will not delay or cancel the 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 northern part of Uttarakhand, on Thursday to celebrate Makar Sankranti.

Fans began arriving Wednesday; photos show families going under the river, groups walking or sitting along the shore, and holy men doing evening prayers. Retailers decorated their shop windows while public merchants laid out their belongings along the streets in anticipation of the crowd. According to Kaushik, there were about 700,000 people by Thursday.

As the first crowd plunged into the waters, authorities spurred the potential of a super-distributor event, with the country still reporting between 20,000 new Covid-19 cases a day.

A potential ‘breeding ground’

Leaders, however, warn that vaccine or not, the risk of infection is still great, and that residents should continue to take precautions.

The Uttarakhand High Court issued a court order on January 11 emphasizing the danger of the festival and urging the authorities to take more detailed security measures. Unless the flow of people is controlled, with safe accommodation and transportation, ‘Kumbh Mela 2021 could become the breeding ground for the spread of COVID-19 pandemic,’ the court warned.

“As people from all over the country and abroad gather at Kumbh Mela, the contamination of COVID-19 can be traced back to different parts of the country by the pilgrims,” ​​the court said, adding that the government needed ‘concrete plans’ has. to minimize the threat.

Fans coming from outside the city will have to go through thermal scanning and sampling, Haridwar District Magistrate KK Mishra said on Thursday. District administrators have been deployed throughout the city to raise awareness and provide safety training for retailers and business owners, he said.

On Thursday, volunteer teams conducted temperature tests on devotees near the Ganges. People wishing to participate in the holy baths must also register online and receive e-passes, according to CNN News 18. National guidelines still apply, including mandatory face masks and a required rule for social footing in public spaces.

But it is unclear how closely the precautions will be followed or how they will be applied – especially during next month’s pilgrimage.

Photos from Thursday show how people packed up at the riverbanks, without the required distance between individuals. Many of the photos wore face masks or covers, but a significant number were also bald-faced, including children and the elderly – and especially during group rites.

There is also no guarantee that people will wait until the official start date. The important religious dates are based on the astrological positions of planets, and therefore devotees can travel to the Ganges on the dates for the sacred baths, regardless of government approval.

Increasing religious tension

Authorities have good reason to be nervous. Around the world, various religious gatherings have caused Covid-19 clusters, some of which have spread to their entire community.

One of the earliest and best-known cases was the religious group Shincheonji, which became the center of the outbreak of South Korea in February. By March, thousands of cases had been linked to its members – more than half of all the country’s cases at the time – causing local closures. and extensive contact detection and testing.

India faced its own crisis in mid-March, when a gathering of a conservative Muslim missionary group in New Delhi led to a very public group. Thousands of members traveled to the event from across the country and abroad – by the following months, more than 4,200 issues were linked to the event, across 23 states and union areas.

But the gathering of the Muslim group received a much stronger rainfall and public hostility than the cases in other countries, mainly due to India’s prolonged Muslim-Hindu tension, which increased along with 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 group has reinforced existing prejudices, which have increased in recent years under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) of Modi. Muslims across the country reported being harassed and beaten; at some their houses were raided by the police; some BJP leaders described the rally as an act of terrorism.

Other non-Muslim gatherings continued to take place during the same period, but experienced significantly less setbacks. The prime minister of Uttar Pradesh, for example, traveled to another city after a Hindu ritual, even after the closure was announced, apparently surrounded by at least 20 people. After that, his media adviser told local media there were about 10 people present.

There was also almost no sign of public shouting this week for the hundreds of thousands of Hindus who gathered in Haridwar. Modi, who has a strong Hindu base, tweeted about the holiday on Thursday and made no mention of Covid-19 or security measures.

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

Indian political commentator Sanjay Kapoor is not surprised that the authorities are continuing the pilgrimage next month, despite clear concerns about security.

“I do not think it will ever be canceled – it’s too big,” he said, adding that the festival has grown significantly since the BJP came to power, reflecting their emphasis on Hindu nationalism – as well as cultural and politically the influence of India’s Hindu majority. This is all the more subtle when we consider that the Muslim gathering in March was ‘venomously’ targeted and made an example of it, he said.

“They do not even allow parliament to convene on the basis of Covid, but these mega-events may happen. How do you explain this to the world?” Kapoor said. “The pandemic has not disappeared.”