Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
On the day of Makar Sankranti, 3.5 crore devotees had taken bath at Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj by evening. Although Maha Kumbh, the world’s largest religious event, had started on Monday itself, but on the auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti, the real glory of Maha Kumbh was seen in Prayagraj with the Amrit Snan. You will be shocked to see its pictures. Such a large number of people reached the Kumbh area and took a dip in the Sangam, but no one faced any problem anywhere, no one was found to complain. This is amazing, unbelievable, unimaginable for the people of the world.
The most surprising thing is that the number of people who took bath in the Sangam in just a few hours is more than the entire population of 52 countries of the world. People from big universities and management institutes of the world have reached Prayagraj just to understand how arrangements are made for such a large number, how arrangements are made to handle the crowd. Kumbh is going to last for forty-five days. People will continue to reach Prayagraj like this for the next one and a half month. There will be more crowd in the next two Amrit Snans to be held. On January 29, the day of Mauni Amavasya, the number of people taking a dip in the Sangam can reach six crores.
The first nectar bath of the Purna Mahakumbh took place. As soon as the Sun God entered Capricorn from Sagittarius, as soon as the Sun God became Uttarayan, at the time of Makar Sankranti, a flood of devotees gathered on the banks of Sangam in Brahmamhurta. According to tradition, first of all the sages and saints of all the 13 Akharas, Acharya, Mahamandaleshwar, Naga Sadhus, Aghoris and women sadhus took bath. After that, more than three and a half crore devotees took bath, meditated and worshiped in the Sangam.
First of all, the saints and sages of Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani took out a procession from their cantonment towards Sangam. Behind him was the procession of Shri Shambhu Panchayati Atal Akhara. In these Akharas, Naga Sadhus were walking at the forefront with sword, spear, trident and mace in their hands. Behind him, the Acharya and Peethadhishwar of the Akhara were riding on their chariot.
Although there are a total of 13 Akharas in Sanatan tradition and scriptures, but in Mahakumbh, people are most curious to see the Nagas of Juna Akhara and Niranjani Akhara. On Tuesday, when the Nagas of Niranjani and Juna Akhara moved towards Sangam after Mahanirvani and Atal Akhara, the police force present there tightened the security cordon around the saints. Thousands of Naga Sadhus of Juna Akhara, chanting ‘Har-Har Mahadev’, proceeded towards the Sangam and took bath along with Acharya, Peethadhishwar, Mahamandaleshwar and other great saints of the Akhara.
That three and a half crore people gather at one place, take bath without any stampede or jostling, there is no disturbance, no inconvenience of any kind and everyone goes back happily, this is a surprise for the whole world. It is not easy to arrange this. It is a big challenge to control such a large number and make all the arrangements for them. But Yogi Adityanath completed this challenge very easily. More than 250 IAS and PCS officers were deployed in Mahakumbh. The Director General of UP Police and the Principal Secretary to the Government were themselves monitoring all the arrangements. The Kumbh area spread over ten thousand hectares has been divided into more than 25 sectors. Separate ghats were built for bathing in the akharas. Different routes to reach the ghat were decided for the sadhus of all the Akharas. Separate routes were made for devotees coming from different directions.
You will be surprised to know that the population of 52 countries of the world is less than 35 million. That means more people than the population of that many countries took the holy dip in Prayagraj during 12 hours. People from about forty countries have also reached Prayagraj in small groups. Foreign devotees also took a dip of faith in Mahakumbh. These people are not Sanatani, do not understand our language, do not know our culture. But coming to Mahakumbh, even the foreigners were seen completely immersed in the colors of Sanatan.
Managing a crowd of three and a half crores is no joke. Although some people may say that with the help of technology, by using AI, by deploying police force, the crowd was controlled. But I feel that the crowd of crores cannot be controlled only through technology. For this, accurate planning, better use of human resources, correct estimation of the number of devotees, arrangements according to their needs, correct assessment of emergency situations and most importantly strong willpower are necessary.
Yogi Adityanath did this with his determination. Started preparations for Mahakumbh two years ago, visited Prayagraj repeatedly, kept an eye on every single thing, deployed the most capable officers in Prayagraj, personally looked after all the small and big arrangements, did proper planning, hence the first Amrit Snan was completed safely without any hindrance.
The credit for this should go to Yogi Adityanath’s government as well as his officers, security policemen, volunteers and sanitation workers. However, his responsibility is not over yet. Now Mahakumbh is to continue for one and a half month. Therefore, we should pray that everything goes well and all the devotees coming to Mahakumbh take a bath in the Ganga and go back to their homes safely, chanting the praises of Sanatan. (Rajat Sharma)
Watch: ‘Aaj Ki Baat with Rajat Sharma’ full episode of January 14, 2025
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