Nearly two crore devotees took a holy dip at the Maha Kumbh on the occasion of Maghi Purnima on Wednesday. The population of the city of Prayagraj is roughly 60 lakhs, and the devotees that reached the Maha Kumbh was four times that number. There was no stampede, no panic, and the devotees took their holy dip amidst chants of hymns and bhajans.
The Maha Kumbh has completed almost one month, and more than 50 crore people have taken their holy dip in the last 30 days. Except for India and China, this figure of 50 crore is more than the population of any country. If one adds the population of 119 countries of the world, it could reach 50 crore. This is really unimaginable and unbelievable.
Concerns were being expressed by opposition leaders over how the UP government would handle such a huge number of devotees and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has come out with flying colours.
The day was really challenging, Yogi woke up soon after midnight and reached the war room set up at the Chief Minister’s residence as live visuals of devotees at the Maha Kumbh started pouring in. Yogi personally monitored the flood of devotees with UP Police chief Prashant Kumar, Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad and other senior officials sitting by his side. By 11 am, when it appeared that everything was smooth, Yogi left his residence. At Baghpat in western UP, Yogi apologized to the crowd for being late and told people that he was hopeful about the total number of devotees crossing 50 crore by the end of the day.
Without naming former CM Akhilesh Yadav, Yogi lashed out at leaders who were trying to create a scare and dissuade devotees not to go to Prayagraj. “People know what the reality is and they are not going to listen to those leaders who sneak into the Maha Kumbh to take a holy dip”, Yogi said. Yogi’s top officials were on the toes to ensure that there were no unnecessary jams in Prayagraj, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Chitrakoot. Senior policemen were deployed to ensure that there was no obstruction in the movement of people and vehicles.
The first challenge that Yogi Adityanath faced was, how to handle the huge crowd that would assemble at the Maha Kumbh. Managing such a huge number is not an easy job, but the entire world has now noticed how the crowd was managed in a peaceful manner.
Yogi’s second challenge was, more and more devotees were moving towards Maha Kumbh from different states like MP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha, after seeing visuals of other devotees taking a holy dip on TV.
Yogi’s third challenge was, a large number of devotees after attending the Maha Kumbh were going to Ayodhya for the darshan of Lord Ram Lala at the new temple and were also visiting Varanasi to take the blessings of Lord Vishwanath. These two cities were facing the spillover of devotees returning from Prayagraj. Naturally, more police force was required and arrangements had to be made for food, water, sanitation and stay for the devotees. This was a huge responsibility for Yogi’s government.
The final challenge came from politicians from the opposite spectrum. They were taking potshots at Yogi after the stampede that took place on Mauni Amavasya. Some alleged that thousands of devotees died, some others criticized what they called “failure of crowd management”, and most of the opposition leaders blamed “VIP culture”. But the fact is, leaders who were levelling allegations, went quietly to the Maha Kumbh, took their holy dip and came back unannounced.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh took a dip on Wednesday, while Akhilesh Yadav had gone to Maha Kumbh a few days ago. Both admitted that they faced no problems while going to the Maha Kumbh as commoners. By ensuring perfect crowd arrangement at Maha Kumbh, Yogi has given a stinging reply to the opposition. Yogi showed that Akhilesh Yadav’s allegations do not hold water. By ensuring that more than 50 crore devotees went to the Maha Kumbh and returned safely, Yogi Adityanath has displayed his dexterity in crowd management and he deserves praise.
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