Congress leader Alka Lamba recently took to social media to claim that in the current Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Home Minister Amit Shah participated in the Shahi Snan. While the usual gang of liberals and leftist media alleged that Kumbh Mela became a super-spreader of Coronavirus, social media users have jumped in to accuse BJP of not only encouraging the event but also participating in it, leading to the further spread of the infection.
This claim is, however, untrue. Old pictures have been used to insinuate that BJP leaders lackadaisical attitude has added to the coronavirus scourge.
Alka Lamba tries to pass off an old picture of 2019 Kumbh as recent
Congress leader Alka Lamba took to Facebook on April 15, when the Kumbh event was underway, to share a picture of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath taking a dip in the river Ganges along with other saints and seers. In her now-deleted post, Lamba insinuated that the Uttar Pradesh CM tested positive for the pathogen after he attended the Kumbh Mela in Uttarakhand.
Lamba cheered that Yogi Adityanath had tested positive for coronavirus.
Other social media users soon followed suit. One Avneet Kaur took to the microblogging site on April 17, 2021, to share a picture of Yogi Adityanath and Union HM Amit Shah taking a holy dip in the Ganges to claim that by attending the Kumbh meal in Uttrakhand, the BJP leaders have played a significant role in spreading the deadly disease.
Another social media user went a step ahead and wrote while sharing another picture from the same event on April 16: “Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that the government will impose a fine of Rs 10,000 if caught without a mask.
(Photo: Yogi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah performing ‘Shahi Baptism’ at the Kumbh Mela attended by millions three days ago)”.
These claims are, however, completely untrue. What the Congress leader and these like-minded Netizens are trying to do is only misrepresent facts to malign the BJP government.
The fact is that these pictures which Alka Lamba and other social media users are trying to pass off as that of the recent Kumbh Mela in Uttarakhand is of 2019 Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj.
In February 2019, when Kumbh was underway in Prayagraj, BJP leader and HM Amit Shah along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attended the event. They had then taken a holy dip in the River Ganges. Shah had also performed Aarti at the Triveni Ghat. Many news agencies had reported this news then.
Kumbh wrapped up by April 17
On Thursday (April 15), the Panchayati Niranjani Akhada had announced that the Kumbh Mela would concluded by April 17. The decision came at the backdrop of rising cases of Coronavirus in Haridwar.
It must be mentioned that the itinerary of Kumbh Mela includes 4 ‘shahi snan’ and 9 ‘Ganga snan.’ The fourth ‘shahi snan’ will be conducted on April 27. Reportedly, a total of 2,167 people were diagnosed with Coronavirus in the past 5 days. This is despite the fact that a Covid-19 negative RT-PCR report, not more than 72 hours prior to arrival, was made mandatory for attending the festival. The turnout of devotees was also less compared to the preceding years.
