Changing colours of kanwar yatra: pilgrimage or political pageantry?

The chants are no longer confined to 'Har Har Mahadev' or 'Bhole Baba paar karega'. They are often punctuated by even more boisterous cries of DJ bajwa diye Yogi ne/Rang jama diye Modi ne.

The line between spiritual and political has been blurred in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi. The state sponsorship of the month-long barefoot pilgrimage, the kanwar yatra — which ended on Wednesday, 23 July — has taken new forms over the past seven-eight years, with UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and PM Narendra Modi seen as the patron saints.

From deploying drones and helicopters to showering petals, to issuing controversial directives like ordering eateries along the route to publicly display names of the owner, the manager and even employees — a not so subtle move to identify Muslim-owned establishments on the route — to ordering the police to set up comfortable shelters, organise food stalls and policemen and women ordered by superiors to rub balms on the blistered feet of pilgrims. Videos of policewomen in uniform ministering to the pilgrims and applying oil and lotions on their feet have been prominent on social media this year.

The pampering has increased every year with political leaders in the state vying with each other to cultivate kanwariyas, most of whom happen to be young, quick-tempered males. They abuse and assault people with impunity, attack vehicles, vandalise eateries and shops if they feel like, confident that they can get away and police will do nothing. The Yogi has their back.

The route to Shiva is now paved with QR codes, saffron stickers, and identity markers. Behind every flower petal dropped from a government helicopter is a vote bank being cultivated. Behind every loudspeaker playing DJ music, a political pitch is being made. 

Little wonder then that the kanwariyas feel more emboldened every year. Young men from small towns and villages, mostly Dalits and OBCs, see the pilgrimage as an adventure and feel a sense of pride. “People may see us as poor manual labourers but when I walk barefoot, I feel a surge of pride; we are treated with respect (fear) even by policemen in uniform,” says Ravi Kumar, a 22-year-old from Etah.

“Religious rituals like the yatra are no longer just spiritual acts. They’re mass mobilisation tools,” says sociologist Dr Shalini Saxena of Lucknow University. “The BJP uses them to reinforce majoritarian nationalism, while offering social dignity to marginalised Hindus.”

The opposition, too, is catching up. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has started its own version of the kanwar yatra. On 16 July, SP workers set out from Haridwar carrying posters of Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, with banners that read, 'Samajwadi PDA dwara vishal kanwar yatra.'

SP national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhry said, “Our PDA base — pichhda, Dalit, alpsankhyak — participates in this yatra. Why should BJP claim exclusive rights to it?”

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This year, saffron stickers reading 'Sanatani Vyaparik Sansthan' were plastered across shops by VHP volunteers. It offered protection from vandalism provided the shops sold and showcased only vegetarian food and no meat or alcohol.

“This is not just about food. It is about sanskriti,” claims Mahesh Vats, a VHP member in Meerut. Ironically, neither alcohol nor non-vegetarian food are ever far away from the route. Several BJP leaders in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh also seem to have hosted ‘mutton parties’ in the month of Shravan when the faithful are apparently expected to keep away from both.

An angry chief minister lashed out at sections of the media for portraying kanwariyas as unruly mobs. “They are pilgrims, not criminals or terrorists,” the Yogi said grimly and promised to name and shame them. Yet, incidents of violence during the yatra — road rage, assaults, damage of public and private property seem to have gone up this year. “We respect Shiv bhakts, but hooligans have taken over the yatra. The government is protecting these ‘huddang baaz’ lot,” accuses SP MLA Md Iqbal.

The faithful have always undertaken this tough pilgrimage — walking barefoot for 200 km and more while balancing water from the holy river on the shoulder is not meant for everyone, says a teacher at MGM Inter College, Bareilly, Rajnish Gangwar. The trouble is that the sponsors who do not undertake the pilgrimage themselves, nor allow their wives and children to undertake it, but who invest money to cultivate the youth’s gratitude, he says.

A video clip of Gangwar asking students to pursue education and not waste their time on the pilgrimage drew the ire of Hindutva groups. They found it blasphemous. “It is an attack on our faith,” said Rakesh Sharma, a member of the Mahakal Seva Samiti. Police promptly booked the teacher.