Every year, thousands of pilgrims attend Arunachal Pradesh’s famous Parshuram Kund Makar Sankranti fair, often known as the Kumbh Mela of the Northeast. However, this year’s festival, which was held from the 12th to the 16th of January 2023, saw many incidents of theft, raising concerns among locals.
According to reports, the Mahant Baba Harisharan Das of Parshuram temple lodged a complaint regarding these incidents with the police on January 16, 2023.
In his complaint, the Mahant said that when he woke up in the morning and sat outside his room, he saw some suspicious persons entering the temple. He immediately called other disciples and walked towards the temple. Before the Mahant reached the temple, a miscreant ran away with the donation money. Two other miscreants were, however, apprehended by the locals. When they were searched and their identity was checked, they turned out to be belonging to the Muslim community. Following this, there was widespread anger amongst the local people.
Another objectionable and despicable incident that came to light during the four-day celebration was the defacement of a wall near the sacred bathing ghat of Parshuram Kund with Islamic symbols. According to reports, some unknown miscreants painted Islamic symbols like stars and the moon on the wall near the Ghat.
It is worth noting that this year, the majority of the safai karamcharis employed to look after the cleaning of the ghat and its surroundings are Muslim Community members. To get access to the festival grounds, the administration has issued them with authorised identity cards.
Such incidents have raised concerns amongst the locals and the pilgrims. These people have requested that the person who hired the cleaners and the contractor that deployed them be identified. The inhabitants of the area have called for a high-level investigation into the incident.
Similarly, there are several other incidents that occured throughout the festival that must be investigated. According to tradition, after taking a bath, pilgrims participating in the yatra throw away some of their wet garments. These Muslims would pick up the strewn clothing. This year, though, there have been multiple reports of fresh clothes missing from the ghat.
In addition, there were more incidents of pickpocketing at the fair this year than in previous years. In fact, locals have claimed that the cleaners’ families sit as beggars on the ghat. When pilgrims visit the fair, these people have been spotted collecting and loading some of their personal belongings like clothes and food items unintentionally left behind by them in automobiles and disappearing.
Parshuram Kund is a Hindu pilgrimage site dedicated to sage Parshuram located on the banks of the Lohit river near Tezu in the Lohit district. A large number of Hindu devotees visit the site during Makar Sankranti in January and take a holy dip in the sacred kund of the river. It is notable that Lohit is one of the three rivers that form the mighty Brahmaputra river, the other two being the Dihang river and the Dibang river.
