Muddy Waters

Ritual inclusion at the Kumbh does not wash away Modi's contempt for Dalit rights

- SAGAR

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the Kumbh Mela as a “grand Mahayajna of Unity” that “has strengthened India’s national consciousness” for thousands of years—a blatantly exclusionary statement, given that the ritual involves only Hindus. Like the deity Krishna revealing the universe in his mouth, he wrote in a 27 February blog post, the Kumbh allowed people to witness “the massive potential of India’s collective strength,” which would have been “a great force” in the aftermath of Independence had it “been correctly recognised and harnessed towards boosting the welfare of all.” Three months earlier, he had called it an occasion where caste differences “dissolve, sectarian conflicts fade, and millions unite with a single purpose and shared belief.”

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party distributed copies of the Constitution to the fifteen thousand sanitation workers at the two-month event, while the Uttar Pradesh government, which spent ₹7,500 crore on the mela, set up temporary primary schools for their children. A few hours after Modi’s blog post, the chief minister, Adityanath, and members of his cabinet drove home the message by dining with sanitation workers. Several commentators interpreted these activities as the BJP’s attempt to win back the Dalit vote it had lost in the 2024 general election, but this outreach was not new. At the last Ardh-Kumbh in Prayagraj, months before the 2019 election, Modi had washed the feet of five sanitation workers and glorified their menial jobs as the work of tapasvis (ascetics) and karmayogis (providers of selfless service). However, Modi’s efforts at Dalit inclusion have been restricted to the ritual realm.