NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 19, 2021 (Arab News): India’s move to cancel a massive Hindu festival with an expected footfall of over 20 million people was the “right decision,” civil society members and health experts said on Sunday amid an impending third wave of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, which has claimed more than 400,000 lives across the country. Independent agencies and media reports, however, claim the actual figure is “at least 10 times higher” than the numbers reflected in official data. On Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh called off the Kanwar Yatra, a festival for Hindu Deity Shiva, amid a steady spike in daily COVID-19 infections. Nearly 42,000 new cases were reported from across India on Sunday.
“On the appeal of the Uttar Pradesh government, the Kanwar Sanghs (the organization of Shiva devotees) has canceled the Kanwar Yatra (festival) this year,” Navneet Sehgal, Uttar Pradesh’s informational secretary, said in a statement on Saturday. Uttar Pradesh was forced to revise its stand after the Supreme Court on Friday called upon the state to reconsider hosting the “symbolic festival.” “The right to life is paramount. All other sentiments, even religious, are subservient to these most basic fundamental rights,” the apex court said on Friday before asking the state government to file a response by Monday. Experts applauded the move, urging authorities to “keep learning and use science in decision making,” especially during a pandemic.
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