The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, a body of various sects of ascetics, on Tuesday asked the Uttarakhand government to organise the forthcoming Kumbh Mela in Haridwar on a grand scale.
"If the Magh Mela in Uttar Pradesh can be held on a grand scale, why not Haridwar Kumbh?" ABAP president Mahant Narendra Giri said.
Thanking Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for successfully organising the Magh Mela, Giri said the Uttarakhand government too should organise the Kumbh Mela on similar lines.
"Haridwar Kumbh should be held on a grand scale, religious discourses and kirtans should be held on the banks of the Ganga besides pitching tents for the seers," he said.
He asked the Uttarakhand government to remove all restrictions imposed on devotees coming for the Kumbh Mela in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Crores of people converged at Allahabad for Magh Mela but no one contracted coronavirus nor did anyone die due to it, Giri said.