The Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj has become a political battleground with the opposition parties criticising the event management.
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00:00Prayagraj gears up for the Mahashivratri Amritsanam.
00:20More than 64 crore devotees have taken a dip at the Sangam.
00:27Yogi Adityanath launches a frontal attack on the opposition.
00:40Samajwadi party hits back with the Kans Jayap.
00:55From Mamata Banerjee calling it the Mrityu Kumbh.
01:04To Lalu Yadav's Faltu hai comment on the Mahakumbh.
01:45The Prime Minister has led the charge saying those targeting the Kumbh are the same who
01:57oppose the construction of a Divya Bhavya Navya Ram temple at Ayodhya.
02:02And Yogi Adityanath leaving no quarter saying vultures only see death and pigs only see
02:07filth.
02:08But is there merit in saints and seers and Sanatan Dharam followers telling the warring
02:13sides that target the government as much as you want to and this is for the opposition.
02:19But why call it Mrityu Kumbh or why call Kumbh Faltu.
02:23Is this a signal that's actually being sent out to a particular vote tank.
02:27On a day that the government claims that 64 crore pilgrims have taken a dip so far and
02:33the Mahashivratri Snaan is ahead.
02:35We debate.
02:36I'm Gaurav Sawant.
02:37As always let's get started with the headlines on India First.
02:43CAG report on the Delhi liquor scam tabled in the assembly report says excise contracts
02:52led to a two thousand crore rupee revenue loss under the Arvind Kejriwal government
02:57demands a probe against the LG, CBI and the ED.
03:11Former Congress MP Sajan Kumar sentenced to a life in prison in another 1984 anti-Sikh
03:16rights case convicted for leading a mob and inciting to kill.
03:28Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin calls for an all party meeting on the 5th of March
03:32warns that states could lose 8 MPs due to delimitation based on population control policies.
03:46The Lokayukts clean chit to CM Siddharamaiah and the Muda scam BJP raises a series of questions
03:51over the probe report demands and CBI inquiry to uncover the mystery of political pressures
03:58on officers.
04:05US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron displays stark differences
04:10in their approach to Ukraine exposes a divide between US and Europe over Trump's bid for
04:15a quick ceasefire deal with Russia.
04:28So as Prayagraj now gears up for the Mahashivratri snan, the government insists more than 64
04:35crore devotees have taken a dip in the Sangam area, the Trivedi of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati
04:43at Prayagraj.
04:44So far, the political showdown has escalated over the world's largest spiritual gathering.
04:51Yogi Adityanath came out all guns blazing saying vultures will only see death and pigs
04:55will only see filth.
04:58Samajwadi party has mocked him with a cunts jibe.
05:01Listening to how Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to opposition's Bhrityukum and
05:05Faltukum comments saying those who want to divide to rule had also opposed the Ram temple
05:12at Ayodhya.
05:42And non-stop politics.
05:49The Mahakumbh in Prayagraj is set to conclude with the last snan on Mahashivratri.
05:54But the political war of words is far from over.
05:57Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took on Kumbh critics in the assembly.
06:12He also accused the Samajwadi party and the Congress of defaming Prayagraj.
06:43The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's attack came after Prime Minister Osama Bin Laden
06:50also took on RJD chief Lalu Yadav who dismissed Kumbh as meaningless.
07:20the Mahakumbh.
07:50The opposition though is undeterred.
08:20the Mahakumbh.
08:50The Mahakumbh.
09:00The Mahakumbh.
09:10The Mahakumbh.
09:19Mahakumbh is the world's largest spiritual gathering.
09:26The government today claims 64 crore devotees have taken a dip so far.
09:31More than a crore we are told are expected at the Mahashivratri snan that starts tomorrow.
09:38Now the opposition well within its rights to attack on the mismanagement.
09:44But the questions that are being asked when you are attacking the government on mismanagement
09:49and there have been stampedes both in Prayagraj and in Delhi.
09:54Is it fair to call it Mrityukumbh? Is it fair to call it Faltu?
10:00Joining me on India First is Sharath Trivedi representing the Bharatiya Janata Party.
10:04Dr. Ashutosh Verma is the spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party.
10:07Swami Chakrapani Maharaj is the National President of the Hindu Mahasabha and the Sant Mahasabha.
10:12And I want to begin by asking Swami Chakrapani.
10:15Swami Chakrapani ji, tomorrow is the Mahashivratri Mahasanan.
10:19The government claims that 64 crore devotees have taken a dip so far.
10:25What is this signifying? Is the country drowning in a flood of devotion?
10:30Or should we believe what the opposition is saying that this is Mrityukumbh, Faltu
10:36and the government is raising the numbers to hide its bad performance?
10:43Gaurav ji, first of all, I would like to wish you, the people of the country, the viewers,
10:47Om Namah Shivaya and a happy Mahashivratri.
10:50Look, definitely understand that the people who are going to take a dip,
10:55they are going, the government's figures are not wrong,
10:58but those who are sitting mentally at home, abroad, anywhere in the world,
11:02and their attention is on Triveni, so they are also taking a dip in a way.
11:06That is, in billions and billions of people,
11:09those who are not coming to Mahakumbh for any reason,
11:12they are also taking a dip somewhere.
11:14The question is, but on such a great mountain,
11:17a Mahakumbh that seems to have come after 12 years,
11:20and this is after 144 years,
11:23the way it is coming through the Tipdi opposition,
11:26it seems like it is against the Hindus, the Sanatanis.
11:30You tell me, saying dead Kumbh, saying useless,
11:33and what kind of words are being used,
11:36how unfortunate it is that living in such a country,
11:39and when the eyes of the whole world are on this Mahakumbh,
11:42and the parties of our own opposition,
11:45the parties of our own country,
11:48are calling our Mahakumbh useless and the Kumbh of death,
11:51the place of death, how unfortunate it is.
11:54This is a very critical issue.
11:58In any country in the world,
12:01it will not happen that the opposition party
12:04calls the cultural pride of the country useless,
12:07and tells the place of death.
12:09Brother, there can be a shortage.
12:11You stay with me, we will discuss it in detail.
12:14There has been a shortage, people have died,
12:17and if you look twice,
12:19once when there was the Amritsnan of Mouni Amavasya,
12:22at that time on Sangam itself, and then in Rajdhani Delhi,
12:25Dr. Ashutosh Verma attacked the government for mismanagement,
12:28and you must, we all must, that's the job,
12:31but respond to the criticism that
12:34attacking the government is only an excuse
12:37to target the Sanatan Dharm.
12:40Thank you, Gaurav.
12:43I want to just explain, Chakwani Maharaj Ji, and even you also,
12:46we are not attacking on the Sanatan Dharm.
12:49We are attacking on the Bharati Janta Party.
12:52And have you heard yesterday, what Yogi Adityanath's language was yesterday?
12:55It was a language of a desperate,
12:58it was a language of frustration.
13:01How can even a CM use this dirty language in the Vidhan Sabha?
13:04It was totally disastrous.
13:07And this is the actual language of Yogi Adityanath.
13:10He is unfortunately the CM of Uttar Pradesh,
13:13and we UPites are basically used to of all these languages.
13:17Gid or Suvar ki baat karne lagenge koi?
13:20Disgusting of this CM.
13:23And basically this is a politically motivated statement.
13:26Because what he is trying to do is just
13:29he could portray himself as the next successor of
13:32Pradhan Mantri Modi Ji.
13:35Because similarly what he has done, Narendra Modi Ji,
13:38in 2018, if you remember,
13:41Dharam Sansad has portrayed Narendra Modi as a successor
13:44and a presidential candidate.
13:47Sir, my question to you was very simple.
13:50Whether Yogi Adityanath becoming CM is unfortunate or fortunate,
13:53that is for the voters of Uttar Pradesh to decide.
13:56But my question to you was very specific.
13:59You want to attack the BJP, please go ahead and attack the BJP.
14:02But Mrityu Kumbh, you didn't say Mrityu BJP,
14:05the opposition, Mrityu Kumbh,
14:08the attack was on Kumbh and not on the government in power.
14:11BJP, fine, say it, but
14:14Kumbh, is this Muslim appeasement,
14:17vote bank politics of the opposition?
14:20Gaurav, let me make it very clear, none of the leaders from the Samajwadi Party
14:23has even called Mrityu Kumbh, number one.
14:26Number two, even our leader, the Supreme Leader, Kalei Shadduji,
14:29has taken a dip from the holy Ganga.
14:32So there is nothing called against Sanatani. This is imposing ourselves.
14:35First of all, they have been creating chaos across the event.
14:38So you concede words like Mrityu Kumbh
14:41are avoidable? Because my question is very specific.
14:44Words like Mrityu Kumbh or Faltu Kumbh,
14:47is that avoidable?
14:50It should be avoidable because Gaurav, don't put your words in my mouth
14:53at least Samajwadi Party.
14:56Because I want to bring in Sharad Trivedi into this conversation.
14:59The opposition, Mr. Trivedi, says the government
15:02is grossly exaggerating these figures of 64 crore.
15:05Explain how is the government arriving at this figure of 64 crore?
15:08Why is the government not explaining this point one?
15:11Point two, using words like
15:14Gidh ko sirf moth nazar aati hai,
15:17Soor ko sirf gandgi nazar aati hai.
15:20What is this aimed at, sir?
15:23Gaurav, there is a saying in English that
15:26man sees the world not as the world is but as he is.
15:29So this is the way the people in the opposition are responding.
15:32First is Mrityu Kumbh.
15:35The second is it's the most polluted place in the world.
15:38The third is that a person of the stature of Jaya Bachchan ji
15:41says that thousands of bodies were thrown in the river.
15:44And then we have got Khadge ji saying that
15:47isse kya gareebi, beruzgari door ho jati hai?
15:50Lalu ji is saying ki faltu ka kumbh hai.
15:53The problem is not with the
15:56arrangement in Kumbh Mela.
15:59The problem is the minds of these people who have to
16:02actually hook on to the only vote that is left with them.
16:05That is the secular vote. So they are just hunting for the secular vote
16:08because I'll give you an anecdote from
16:11an old movie, Pura Pachim.
16:14There is one actor, Manmohan, he wants to get married
16:17to a Christian girl whose name is Christine.
16:20And he says ki wo kehati hai ki main mandir mein jaake
16:23shadi karungi. Main apne doston mein jaake bataunga ki
16:26shadi karne jaaram wo bhi mandir mein. Mujhe toh sharam aati hai.
16:29So the problem is the Kumbh Mela. The problem is Sanatan Dharam.
16:32There was no problem, there was no pollution
16:35when Mr. Akhilesh Yadav had gone to have a dip.
16:38When he got his father's statue
16:41put up there, which was given a bath
16:44from Ganga water, was there no pollution out there?
16:47The problem is only with Sanatan Dharam.
16:50Yesterday we have a doyen of the
16:53film industry calling Holi festival as
16:56chhapariyon ka tyohar hai. The problem is the Hindu
16:59hate. They cannot go beyond that, they cannot
17:02see anything beyond that.
17:03No, but sir explain, explain how did the government, again my
17:06question was very specific, how did the government arrive at this
17:09figure of 64 crore devotees have
17:12taken a dip so far? Because the opposition very clearly
17:15says, you're grossly exaggerating these numbers
17:18to hide your failures, whether it's the stampede that took
17:21place at Sangam or the stampede that took place at the New Delhi
17:24railway station. Gaurav, first the opposition
17:27is when they are saying that we are grossly overestimating,
17:30so they should give their estimate. And how are they reaching that
17:33estimate? We have got drones, we have got face
17:36recognition systems, we have got number plate
17:39reading cameras out there, we have
17:42got an entire security system, we have got a service system,
17:45we have got a rescue system, we have got a medical system out there.
17:48We have got ample capability of assessing
17:51how many people are having a dip on a daily basis.
17:54If the opposition is saying that we are wrong, then they must come out with
17:57the source of that information that we are giving the wrong information.
18:00Just throwing, you know, ideas
18:03wild, just trying to curse the
18:06Kumbh Mela. We have got half a billion
18:09people putting their stamp of approval on the
18:12Kumbh Mela. Dr. Ashutosh Verma, is this
18:15what is worrying those
18:18who may have indulged in politics, whether of caste
18:21or region, north or south, or
18:24religion, that this is the Sanatan Dharma
18:27coming together, irrespective of any distinction
18:30of caste, creed, sect or region?
18:33No, it can't be like that. Because
18:36they have created the Aastha
18:39event in 2024, January 22.
18:43And what voters of India have given to them?
18:46A massive defeat in Ayodhya, what they have seen.
18:49So, we are not worrying about it. Basically, we are worried about the
18:52citizen of India who has come. And I pray tomorrow also
18:55more than 100 crores should come there and see
18:58what they have given to the Kumbh in the name of faith.
19:01They are just politicizing all these things. Stampede
19:04in the Kumbh, stampede at Delhi
19:07and NGT. NGT is not Samajwadi Party's
19:10proprietary. NGT is National Green
19:13Tribunal which comes under Indian government, who has said that
19:16the water of the holy Ganga has N number of
19:19coliform bacteria. Do you mean what is coliform?
19:22May Hindi mein bolu?
19:25Mal wale keede usme padhe hue, bacterias.
19:28And this is what you are giving to our devotees across the
19:31India. And you are spending 10,000 crores
19:3410,000 crores.
19:37Yeh bhi aarop laga raha hai ki vyavastha toh bohot kharab hai.
19:40Gangaji mein paani, Trivedi mein paani
19:43bohot kharab hai. Yeh bhi aarop laga raha hai ki
19:46sarkar ki vyavastha bohot kharab hai.
19:49Aur ussi sab ko chhipane ke liye is tarah ka aakda
19:52diya jaa raha hai. Aur jaise hi vipaksh prashna poochta hai
19:55toh vipaksh par yeh aarop laga jaa raha hai ki wo
19:58ya toh Muslim tushtikaran ki rajneeti kar raha hai ya
20:01sanatan virodhi hai.
20:03Nahin, sawal is baat ka hai. Dekhiye kahin na kahin
20:06yeh vipaksh ke aise mann mastik mein hai ki agar
20:09hindu ke sanataniyon ke khilab kuch bola jaa hai
20:12toh kahin na kahin unke Muslim vote mil jayenge. Wo tushtikaran
20:15mein bol raha hai. Jab ki aap sachayi yeh hai ki aap agar
20:18jo kuch alochana kar rahe ho sarkar ki toh uski kamiya ki karo.
20:21Lekin jis prakaar se seedhe aap jo hai kumbh pe
20:24attack kar rahe ho. Yeh toh durbhaagy purna hai na. Yeh toh
20:27ispashtan dikhai de raha hai ki aap sanatan ke khilab ho.
20:30Sanatan ke khilab aapne supadi le rakhi hai. Aur aur
20:33aapke liye paani ho sakta hai, keede wala paani ho sakta hai,
20:36kya kya paani ho sakta hai. Humare liye wo maa ganga hai,
20:39wo wo wo humare liye param pavitr hai, wo kuch bhi hai
20:42aur jahaan pe bhavana hote hoi bhagwan hote hai. Aur aap
20:45us bhagwan pe kuthara ghat kar rahe ho. Aap usse ke
20:48karono karono logon ki bhavana pe aap aahat kar rahe ho.
20:51Seedhe attack kar rahe ho. Aap yeh samajh nahi paa rahe ho ki aap kar kya rahe ho.
20:54Are bhai wahaan pe jo durbhavasta hogi. Aap sarkar ki baate
20:57karo. Aapko koh kisne adhikar diya hai ki maut ka kumbh koh.
21:00Aapne maha kumbh ko kisne kaha hai ki phaltu koh.
21:03Aapke liye phaltu ho sakta hai. Aapke liye maut ka kumbh
21:06ho sakta hai. Humare liye toh nahi. Humare liye toh mirtulok
21:09toh poore dharti mirtulok hai. Aur isi mirtu se toh
21:12ubarne ke liye, yaani moksha, swarga moksha ki
21:15kaamana ke liye aajme jaata hai Shri Vedi pe. Lekin uske baad
21:18uspe tipdi karna, yeh toh achyandhani. Aapne kabhi
21:21Mecca, Medina pe tipdi kiya kya? Kya kabhi aapne, kya
21:24waha pe ghatnaye nahi hoti hai? Kya Erusalem pe kabhi
21:27kiya kya? Hum nahi chahate ke aap kisi pe karo. Toh jab
21:30auron pe nahi kar raha hai, toh bhai Hindu sanataniya pe kyu kar raha hai?
21:33Dr. Verma, Dr. Ashutosh Verma. Kabhi holi, kabhi dipauli, kabhi
21:36maha kumbh. Toh yeh durbhavastu hai. You heard
21:39Swami Chakrapani, he's raising a simple point. Hindus
21:42believe, the people who take a dip, they believe
21:45that if you take a holi dip in the sangam, it paves the
21:48way for moksha. Moksha is, as you would
21:51know perhaps, and maybe your party MP Afzal Ansari
21:54doesn't know because of a different religion and he may not have studied
21:57this. Moksha does not mean sitting in some heaven.
22:00Moksha means freedom from cycle
22:03of birth and death. But is Afzal Ansari,
22:06your party MP, mocking the Hindu faith when he
22:09says, it'll be houseful in heaven, the number of people who've
22:12taken a dip in Trivedi? Is that acceptable
22:15sir? Has mocking Sanatan dharma been
22:18normalized so much now?
23:15...
23:18...
23:21...
23:24...
23:27...
23:30...
23:33Afzal Ansari, Samajwadi Party MP,
23:36is it okay for him to say heaven must be houseful now?
23:39Because Sharat Trivedi, it's almost as if
23:42mocking Hindus or their faith has become
23:45normalized. But what about Yogi Adityanath
23:48when he says, giddhos ko toh sirf
23:51mrityu dikhegi aur sooron ko
23:54sirf gandhgi dikhegi. But isn't that also taking
23:57the discourse to a different level Mr. Trivedi?
24:00Gaurav, an eagle no matter how
24:03high it flies, it only sees the carrion.
24:06The problem is not with the kumbh mela, there's
24:09no problem with the pollution of the river
24:12because Mani Yogi ji has already put the entire
24:15figures of the pollution in Yamuna
24:18at Sangam on the floor of the
24:21house. He's given every statement on the floor of the house.
24:24He's not been, you know, fibbing stories. The problem
24:27is, you see that we have had Vittam Naresh
24:30having bath in Sangam.
24:33Vittam Naresh is having bath in Sangam, Mohammad Shammi is having bath
24:36in Sangam. The boss of Apple, Steve Jobs'
24:39wife, Steve Jobs' mother is a
24:42Syrian Muslim and his father is a Christian. They have no problem.
24:45The problem is with the
24:48secular front of the opposition, the so-called secular
24:51front. We don't have this kind of secularism
24:54anywhere on earth that you have to curse the majority,
24:57you have to curse the majority religion.
25:00It is for the people in this country to decide
25:03and for political leaders. I've run out of time
25:06on this part of the debate and I want to thank all my guests for joining me
25:09but the question remains, has mocking
25:12the Sanatan Dharm actually been normalized
25:15in this country to the extent or is there merit and you
25:18decide that. Is there merit in the opposition saying
25:21they're targeting the government and not the
25:24Mahakumar, even if they call it Faltu or Mrityukum.