Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Feb 22, 2025

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream

Religious tourism is not new in India, but it has grown since the 1990s since the mainstreaming of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP which has held power in the regions and at the national level — is one party that instrumentalises religion for political purposes, and has promoted religious tourism like never before. Special trains are deployed, three-lane highways are laid out and millions are spent on security and ‘bandobast’ (organisation). The Maha Kumbh Mela’, a 45-day-long huge religious congregation in the state of Uttar Pradesh is in the news where millions of religious devotees gather to take a holy dip in a river. Anywhere else in the world, this would be seen as a logistical nightmare for planners, and city administrators, but here it is simply dressed up as a ‘managerial challenge’ and everyone remains tongue-tied so as not to hurt the so-called religious sentiment in India. A massive influx of tourists puts unsustainable pressure on the train, road networks, public safety and crowd management & security infrastructure —excessive water, energy use and food consumption, and waste management on a giant scale. All this has hugely damaging consequences for the natural environment but these issues are seen as inconvenient and brushed aside from public discussion. Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) officials showed unusual courage by reporting [1], [2] heavy presence of faecal coliform [3] with huge crowds bathing. UPPCB officials have come under fire from the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh and need protection for keeping the public interest above all. It is high time the social & ecological imprint of mass tourism is understood. Political elites from all shades of the spectrum must end this endless race for growth at the cost of public health and the natural environment.

February 22, 2025 —HK