The Business Standard’s bigotry towards Hindu festivals is scarcely ever hidden. Earlier, it had insinuated that the Kanwar Yatra was so popular because of unemployment in the country. And now, it has again made the assertion that the Kumbh Mela attracts millions of people because they are unemployed.

#KumbhMela2019 : If everyone had decent jobs, rally maidans would be largely empty and, save for babas and curious foreigners and devout senior citizens, not very many would spare time for Kumbh Can #KumbhMela help alleviate UP’s unemployment problems?https://t.co/VHWLkwDUrI pic.twitter.com/JBtxhBlwF5 — Business Standard (@bsindia) January 22, 2019

The very assumptions of the tweet are borne of bigotry. The assumption that “If everyone had decent jobs, rally maidans would be largely empty and, save for babas and curious foreigners and devout senior citizens, not very many would spare time for Kumbh” reeks of arrogant elitism.

It may appear scandalous to the author but occasionally people do tend to prioritise religion over their routine daily activities. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Humans may need food, water and air to survive but religious piety is the primary source of inspiration for the overwhelming majority of people across the world. Therefore, it’s human nature to seek the blessings of the Gods once their immediate concerns are taken care of.

Of course, leftists would much rather have us as corporate slaves. Toil away all our lives for the interests of people we hardly know and sacrifice our personal concerns at the altar of the share market. But human nature is a persistent beast, and we need religion to satiate our hunger for the Divine.

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The very assumption that Hindu festivals are popular merely because of unemployment reveals the twisted attitude that such people reserve for the Hindu faith. A great many Indians are self-employed, therefore it allows them the opportunity to take a break from their work for a few days after arrangements have been made previously. A great percentage of the Indian workforce is made up by farmers as well who again can reserve a few days in their calendar for the Kumbh.

Even employers are more often than not willing to grant their employees leaves for the festivities if their track record has earned them the right to it. Thus, employment opportunities do not feature into the equation at all. Only those who have taken it upon themselves to find some fault with Hindu festivities, no matter how misguided it may be, will come up with such an argument.

Such ridiculous claims, of course, is the manner in which leftists pay obeisance to their favoured deity: Secularism. Secularism mandates that some manner of fault must be found with Hindu festivities, conjured out of thin air if needs be, but they need to be demonized. Hindus must not be allowed to participate freely in festivities, an air of negativity must surround every Hindu festival. For this is what Secularism dictates.

No one is concerned about unemployment when Muslims from all over the world travel to Mecca for the Hajj. There’s no such concern when animal rights are violated during Eid. No one has a problem when millions and millions of trees are cut for Christmas. Of course not. These are festivals of the ‘People of the Book’. And Secularism mandates that monotheist cults must be favoured against polytheists by all means.

Only a mind twisted beyond recognition by perverse Secularism could associate unemployment with any Hindu festivities. There are a million positive aspects to the Kumbh Mela and yet, a mythical narrative had to be conjured for casting negative aspersions on it.

The Kumbh is the biggest religious congregation on the planet. Like the Kanwar Yatra, the Kumbh Mela helps Hindus transcend the barriers of caste, class, creed and language to unite under the banner of Dharma. The Kumbh Mela unites Hindus in a manner that very few other Hindu festivals can. It’s a festival of religious piety, a reflection of the great diversity of traditions in the polytheistic Hindu faith.

Leftists cast aspersions on the enormous gathering at the Kumbh Mela because they are threatened by it. They claim that they seek unity and yet when a Hindu festival provides the platform for it, they feel threatened. The motivation to link the Kumbh and earlier the Kanwar Yatra, with unemployment arises from the inherent aversion that leftists have towards the Hindu faith.