In Gujarat, all pyres at crematoriums in four major cities of Gujarat — Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Rajkot are burning incessantly while more dead bodies are piling up in the queue waiting for their turn. On the other side, in the Kumbh Mela, 2 million devotees are participating in the event and no COVID norms are followed, no thermal screening, few masks, 102 test positive, with top saints also testing positive. Ths far, again with over 2 million masses, how is it possible to test all? Only the top guns will get tested.
While the Gujarat state government recorded only 49 COVID deaths on Saturday, taking its overall Covid toll to 4,746, judging by the number of dead bodies, the numbers are much higher. It is alleged that Vijay Rupani’s government is hiding the COVID death data.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Saturday denied reports that the state government was hiding the true COVID death data. “As per the guidelines of the ICMR, if a comorbid patient dies, then a committee of experts decides the primary and secondary causes of death. If that committee identifies the main cause of the death as heart attack, then even though the patient was infected with coronavirus, such death is not counted as Covid death. The same system is followed in the entire country,” he said in Ahmedabad. So in reality, COVID deaths are not recorded as such, even if they died of COVID.
In the meantime, there are heart-wrenching visuals in Gujarat of people cremating their loved ones on open grounds, the official government crematoriums are overflowing and the government is unable to accommodate them for cremation.
It must not be forgotten the Namaste Trump hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attended by US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in presence of more than 100,000 people at a time WHO had informed the world that COVID-19 was a dangerous pandemic and warned against foreign travel. Gurajat was severely hit, but over the past year, the government revealed a drop in COVID cases and deaths. The recent visuals show otherwise, there is a major medical crisis in Gujarat.
On the other side, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said on March 20 for the Kumbh Mela, “I invite all devotees across the world to come to Haridwar and take a holy dip in the Ganga during Mahakumbh. Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.”
By Monday evening, over 28 lakh devotees turned up for the second shahi snan (royal bath) in the Ganga. And according to medical department officials, over 18,169 devotees were tested between 11.30 pm Sunday and 5 pm Monday — 102 were found positive including top saints. The Uttarakhand chief minister said ‘nobody would be stopped in the name of COVID-19’. Now officials say the crowds are too big to enforce pandemic guidelines.
Officials said by noon more than 2.1 million devotees had bathed in the river, with many more expected to follow suit. Monday – Somvati Amavasya – marks the biggest bathing day during the two-month-long festival.
Kumbh Mela religious festival in Haridwar city in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand where they believe that the river is holy and bathing in it will cleanse them of their sins and bring salvation. Haridwar is an ancient city and an important Hindu pilgrimage site in North India’s Uttarakhand state, where the River Ganges exits the Himalayan foothills.
The Kumbh Mela takes place every 12 years and the venue is chosen from amongst four cities, including Allahabad, Haridwar, Nasik, and Ujjain and this year, the venue is held in Haridwar, in Uttarakhand.
It is anticipated that Monday’s bathing day will strengthen the virus further, enabling it to spread faster among the devotees and that some of them could also take the virus back to their cities and villages in other parts of the country.
It must not be forgotten that election campaigns and election polling were held in the midst of the COVID sweep, so politicians themselves, leaders of the nation are not taking it seriously.
People today are remembering those who targeted Muslims over the Tablighi Jamaat gathering of 9000 last year, but the same people are now silent about the mass gathering at Kumbh Mela which is a gathering of over 2 million people.
No one should play with COVID-19 because it is sneaky, cunning, deadlier, and far more lethal than anyone realizes. The mass burials and cremations happening all over the nation indicate the virus is sweeping over the country drastically.
COVID could become similar to the Black Plague. Remember the deadliest bubonic plague, the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the death of 75–200 million people with the dead overpowering the living? The Black Plague was called Grim Reaper, due to the monstrous manner in which it took away lives.
The plague ended is through the implementation of quarantines. Today, the dead are buried in the same manner as during wartimes. We must not forget we are in a war, a corona war! Are we even serious about it, do our leaders realize how serious it is?
#WATCH Devotees in large numbers gathered at Har ki Pauri today ahead of Ganga aarti, in Haridwar
'Shahi Snan' scheduled to be held on 12th and 14th April during Haridwar Kumbh#Uttarakhand pic.twitter.com/wYcSgh4Nhu
— ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2021