Despite increased COVID-19 infections, tens of thousands of people bathe in the icy waters of the Ganges river in northern India.
Despite a 30-fold increase in coronavirus cases in the past month, hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees have flocked on the banks of India’s Ganges river for a holy bath.
Hindus believe that bathing in the holy river’s icy waters during the Makar Sankranti festival, which takes place every year on January 14, wipes away sins and frees people from the cycle of death and rebirth.
On Friday, a huge number of devotees bathed in the river in the eastern state of West Bengal, which, after Maharashtra in the west, is reporting the highest number of cases in the country.
The festival’s culmination on Sagar Island, where the Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal, is expected to draw almost three million people, according to officials.
“There was a sea of people at the crack of dawn. “Holy water from the Ganges was sprayed on pilgrims from drones… to minimise crowding,” stated local administrator Bankim Hazra.
“However, the saints and a considerable number of others were adamant about taking the plunge… Pilgrims outnumbered security personnel, with the majority of them wearing no masks.”
Hindu devotees gathered at Sangam, the confluence of three rivers – the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati – in Prayagraj city, 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of the state capital Lucknow, led by heads of monasteries and ash-smeared ascetics, to participate in the Magh Mela festival, one of Hinduism’s most sacred pilgrimages.
For the next 47 days, millions of Hindus are anticipated to flock to the event. Many of them will stay on the banks of the Ganges for a month, living as ascetics in the hopes of receiving salvation.
“I can’t breathe with a mask on,” a guy remarked after emerging from the river with his family from a village in Uttar Pradesh.
“I come for a holy dip every year.” “How could I have missed it this year?” you might wonder.
The event has sparked fears that pilgrims will become infected and spread the virus to their cities and villages across the country.
The Associated Press reported on Friday that 77 police officers and 12 cleaning crew members who were deployed for the event had tested positive for the virus.
“This is going to be a superspreader,” says the narrator. “The government should not allow such a large gathering of people because religious congregations have been found responsible for spreading the deadly virus all over the country in the last two years,” said Utkarsh Mishra, an attorney who filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh, asking for the festival to be canceled.
Health experts had previously requested that the celebration be canceled in Uttar Pradesh as well, but the administration refused, claiming that safety regulations would be observed.
Critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party claim that the festival was allowed despite rising infections because the government did not want to enrage Hindus, the party’s most ardent supporters, ahead of the crucial seven-phase state elections in Uttar Pradesh, which begin on February 10.
Doctors in West Bengal have unsuccessfully petitioned the state high court to overturn a decision to allow the Hindu festival this year, fearing that it would become a virus “superspreader” event.
Last year, a similar gathering in Uttarakhand state’s holy town of Haridwar contributed to a record surge in coronavirus cases. The event has already been prohibited in Uttarakhand due to concerns about an increase in diseases.
The current wave of infections in India is causing a fraction of the mortality seen during the peak in April and May last year, with 315 deaths reported on Thursday compared to as many as 4,000 per day at the top.
However, infections are spreading quickly, with around 265,000 new cases reported on Friday. According to some estimates, India could see as many as 800,000 cases per day in the coming weeks, more than doubling the rate recorded nine months ago.
The highly transmissible Omicron type is causing the spike, but hospitalizations are rare, with most people healing at home.
Authorities in several parts of India have attempted to restrict gatherings in order to avert another painful shutdown for millions of workers who rely on a few dollars in daily salaries.
All clubs, restaurants, and private offices in the capital, New Delhi, are closed, and the city will enter its second weekend curfew on Friday night.
Gatherings of more than four persons are prohibited in Mumbai, India’s financial centre.
Prasanta Patnaik