68% in Uttarakhand think it was ‘irresponsible’ to organise Kumbh this year, survey shows
Of those who said the Kumbh should have been cancelled, 15 per cent held the Modi government responsible, while nearly 40 per cent blamed the state.
PRASHNAM INSIGHT #35
The controversy over the organising of Kumbh mela this year has been a matter of great public interest. Ironically, “the festival of immortality” was allowed to go on with strict covid restrictions. In the month of April, when Covid infections were at its peak, the Kumbh had generated lots of angered surprise in and out of the country.
Now that the residents of Uttarakhand are returning to normal life after witnessing the horrible Covid ‘super spreader’ event like the Kumbh in March-April, Prashnam thought it pertinent to ask them, what they thought of this event in hindsight and who would they hold responsible for it?
1875 respondents belonging to all 13 districts of Uttarakhand were asked to opine on Kumbh Mela held this year.
Expectedly, 68% people thought it was a bad idea to organise Kumbh this year. Only 19% of the total respondents thought that it was necessary to organise Kumbh.
Then to those who thought that organising Kumbh should have been cancelled, we asked the second question about whom they hold responsible for this event.
15% of the people think that it is the Modi government which is solely responsible for this event. 75% of the people either hold the state government responsible or both, Modi government and the state government, responsible for this event. 10% of the respondents do not have any view on this. Overall, 90% of the people think that it has been a state failure to avoid a catastrophe of this magnitude, whether Modi sarkar or state government or both.
Read the full report in The Print here
The raw response data is available here.