Yogi’s Mega Challenge: A Smooth Maha Kumbh?

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s biggest political test started this week. Over 40 crore people are expected to gather in the city of Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh Mela and take a holy dip at the confluence of three sacred rivers — the Ganga, the Yamuna, and the mythical, invisible Saraswati. A sacred event for Hindus, the Maha Kumbh started from January 13 and will end on February 26. During the six weeks pilgrims will take part in elaborate rituals, prayers and religious processions. Yogi has personally supervised all arrangements to ensure that his management of the Kumbh will be remembered for a long time.  A sprawling 4,000 hectares of open land along the river banks has been converted into a temporary city to house visitors in 150,000 tents, equipped with 3,000 kitchens, 145,000 toilets and 99 parking lots.  PM Modi has given such importance to the Kumbh, that he even took the unprecedented step of effecting a bureaucratic reshuffle in the Finance Ministry in midst of budget making. A day after the Tirupati stampede, revenue secretary Arunish Chawla was moved out and replaced by Tuhin Kanta Pandey. As culture secretary, Chawla was in charge of Maha Kumbh and Republic Day. The Centre is  spending Rs 5,000 crore for the Kumbh and expecting  to generate revenue of Rs  2 lakh crore for UP. The Centre is taking all kinds of precautions as it does not wish for any repetition of the 1954 Kumbh stampede at Prayagraj, in which 800 people died. It happened under Nehru’s watch and Modi had referred to it in one of his speeches. People may credit Yogi if everything goes well. Yogi was praised last time for the arrangements made for Ram temple inauguration in Ayodhya in January 2024.