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LONDON, ENGLAND, January 11, 2001: Hindus in the United Kingdom slammed a London television channel’s reportage of the Maha Kumbh as distorted and inappropriate. Footage included shots of naked ascetics performing acts of penance on the banks of the Ganges in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. The National Council of Hindu Temples (NCHT), which represents 600,000 Hindus and more than 140 temples in Britain, has reacted to last weekend’s one-hour documentary of the Mela. A letter was being sent by NCHT to Channel 4 protesting the focus on bizarre practices which were not representative of the principles and tenets of mainstream Hinduism. “It’s like depicting Christianity through the Inquisition,” the NCHT declared. “That’s not Christianity and what they’re showing is not Hinduism.” The NCHT says it does not deny the practices depicted in the television footage, but repeats this is not mainstream Hinduism, which has not been covered and deserves a proper hearing. “No explanation was given about what the Kumbh Mela is all about.” A spokeswoman for Channel 4 said the footage broadcast was not representative of the overall coverage that would continue until the end of January. “What has been seen is a small part of what we are broadcasting,” she told IANS. “All that people have seen is 58 minutes out of an entire month’s programming. It’s difficult to represent the Kumbh in that period of time.”

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