Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath defended the Maha Kumbh 2025 against critics who had called it a “Mrityu Kumbh” — a term used after a stampede on January 29, 2026 that killed 30 people — rebranding the event as “Mrityunjay Mahakumbh,” meaning a triumph over death, according to reporting by Business Standard, Mid-Day, and India Today.
Adityanath stated that over 66.21 crore participants took the holy dip over the 45-day duration of the event, which was held at Prayagraj, according to the research documents. He cited a total investment of ₹7,500 crore in the event, of which ₹6,000 crore was directed toward Prayagraj infrastructure, and said that 1 lakh managed toilets were installed with zero sewage discharge recorded into the Ganga and Yamuna rivers, according to the same sources. A peak simultaneous presence of 8 crore pilgrims and sadhus in the Mela area was also cited, along with 12 new corridors linking the site to spiritual landmarks including Akshayavat and Saraswati Koop.
These figures are attributed to the Chief Minister’s own public statements and official Uttar Pradesh government communications; independent verification of participation and infrastructure data was not available for this article.
Adityanath also addressed the January 29 stampede directly, stating in a remark reported by The Hindu that the administration chose not to allow the incident to be “excessively highlighted” so as to prevent panic. He used the Kumbh’s scale as evidence that Sanatana Dharma accommodates all castes and classes equally, arguing the Sangam served as a social leveller. Critics, including the opposition, have continued to raise accountability questions regarding the stampede in which 30 people died, and demanded an independent inquiry into crowd management failures on that day.
