India is about to experience the Purna Kumbh from 13th January to 26th February, 2025 at Prayagraj after 12 years. Kumbh is an important event in Hinduism. This can be simply explained as a holy bath that occurs periodically as per the Hindu calendar, primarily at Prayagraj. Kumbh is broadly classified into three types: Maha Kumbh Mela (occurs every 144 years in Prayagraj), Ardh Kumbh Mela (happens every 6 years, also in Prayagraj and Haridwar), and Purna Kumbh Mela (rotates every 12 years among four cities). People from all over the globe gather at this event to enjoy the holy experience.
The Kumbh has transformed from a religious community gathering into a state-sponsored spectacle. The right-wing elected government is spending billions of rupees of taxpayers’ money. For the 2025 Kumbh, the BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath has allocated ₹5,435.68 crores, whereas in the 2019 Ardh Kumbh, the Yogi government had spent ₹4,200 crores. This was record-breaking amount considering the Samajwadi Party government led by Akhilesh Yadav spent only ₹1,300 crores in the 2013 Kumbh.
India is a SECULAR country as per the Constitution, but the elected government might have forgotten this. The Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh is spending more than ₹5,000 crores of taxpayers’ money to facilitate the naked sadhus. After becoming Chief Minister for the first time in 2017, he spent ₹4,236 crores of taxpayers’ money, while in 2017, the Gorakhpur hospital tragedy occurred, in which 1,317 children died due to a lack of oxygen supply. In November 2024, a fire took place in the Jhansi hospital, where 18 newborns lost their lives.
Despite these and many other incidents, the government is spending a massive amount on a religious gathering instead of improving the healthcare infrastructure of the state. This is not about the government spending money on everyone’s religious festivals or beliefs. This spending is solely for the majority of the nation, whereas minorities, especially Muslims, receive no such budget allocation for any Urs or festival instead of that the government sends officials to survey and find old temples buried under mosques or shrines. Unfortunately, we don’t find any details of the budget allocated for the upcoming Ajmer annual Urs, which is the most celebrated Sufi festival in the Indian subcontinent.
The point is not that the government should allocate a budget for Urs or any other religious gathering. There are far too many priorities in India that are more important for the welfare of citizens, such as education, healthcare, and employment.
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