Drones sprayed holy water from the Ganges on thousands of Hindu pilgrims last week to reduce crowding during a massive festival being held despite soaring Covid cases in India.
The Gangasagar Mela in the east of the country has drawn comparisons with another “superspreader” Hindu gathering last year that the Hindu nationalist government refused to ban. It was blamed in part for a devastating Covid surge.
Officials had said they expected around three million people — including ash-smeared, dreadlocked ascetics — to attend the festival’s climax on Sagar Island, where the Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal.
“At the crack of dawn, there was a sea of people,” local official Bankim Hazra told AFP by telephone. “Holy water from the river Ganges was sprayed from drones on pilgrims… to prevent crowding,” he said.“But the saints and a large number of people were bent on taking the dip… Pilgrims, most of them without masks, outnumbered the security personnel.”
An AFP photographer said that there were fewer people than in recent years and that rain put off some pilgrims from making the journey.
But there were still huge crowds, mostly without masks, taking a holy dip in the river.
A police official on duty at the event said that it was “impossible” to enforce Covid restrictions.
“Most pilgrims are bent on defying the rules,” he said.“They believe that God will save them and bathing at the confluence will cleanse all their sins and even the virus if they are infected.”
Amitava Nandy, a virologist from the School of Tropical Medicines in Kolkata, said the government
“has neither the facilities nor the manpower to test everyone attending or impose social distancing. A stampede-like situation could happen if the police try to enforce social distancing on the river bank.”
Devotee Sarbananda Mishra, a 56-year-old school teacher from the neighbouring state of Bihar, told AFP:
“Faith in God will overcome the fear of Covid. The bathing will cleanse them of all their sins and bring salvation. Death is the ultimate truth. What is the point of living with fear?”
Source: AFP