SP chief Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday backed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remark criticising the arrangements at Mahakumbh and terming the fair “Mrityu Kumbh”.
“What Mamata Banerjee said is right—people have died here. Preparations for Kumbh are not good,” he told reporters.
Yadav said, “Whatever the Chief Minister of West Bengal said is correct. People from her state have also lost lives…A large number of people who had come from Bengal and other states have died. Even FIRs were not being registered. ”
He asked,” Why was this Maha Kumbh organised? Devotees had been coming for centuries, Kumbh has been ongoing since ancient times. Who was responsible for making arrangements? When the CM (Yogi Adityanath) said that arrangements for 100 crore people have been made, people became more confident. When he invited celebrities and other noted personalities, people were confident that arrangements would be good. But that was not the case…”
He lambasted the saffron party for ”taking advantage of public’s emotions”
”…The highest number of missing persons cases is in this Kumbh, highest number of deaths were reported in this Kumbh, highest number of people who fell ill in this Kumbh…,” he said.
The Samajwadi Party chief slammed the UP government for allegedly commercialising Maha Kumbh 2025. He emphasised that such religious events should focus on spirituality rather than profit-making. Yadav urged the government to maintain the sanctity of the gathering and ensure facilities serve pilgrims instead of benefiting private interests.