Embrace of Mateos Blood Part 4
Kumbh fair, which is held at Prayagraj (formerly known as Allahabad) is considered to be the largest religious congregation on Earth as a whole city is built up for the fair which is bigger than Vatic…
Embrace of Mateos Blood Part 4
Kumbh fair, which is held at Prayagraj (formerly known as Allahabad) is considered to be the largest religious congregation on Earth as a whole city is built up for the fair which is bigger than Vatican City. The fair mostly looks like a replica of a Hindu city (if ever happens to be made) of India. The social and cultural history and relevance of the fair is magnificent and very rich. Kumbh fair has its historical evidence in writings of Xuanzang (Buddhist traveller) and even in the past work of the famous historian Al Baluni. Although the gathering at the fair used to be very organic in nature in the past, the Kumbh of 2018 turned into a state sponsored religious event and was made into a religious propaganda of Indian Political parties to attract the 'Hindu vote bank' which forms the majority of the voting population of the country. Kumbh of 2019 was a political event as it was organized right before India's general elections of 2019. The ruling party, 'Bhartiya Janta Party', which is a right wing Hindu appeasing party, used it as a major political tool to propagate their agenda and to attract Hindu voters. This was a major tactic that changed the relevance of this Kumbh fair from the previous ones. The ruling party even changed the name of the entire city from Allahabad (third oldest city of the world) to Prayagraj, which is a more Hindu name and has a more religious significance than a cultural one. The Budget of this Kumbh was 4,200 Crores which was more than three times the budget of previous Kumbh fairs. In this documentary, we have tried to show this religious propaganda and how the ruling part tried to use this ancient organic fair for their electoral benefits. Everywhere in the fair the government placed the hoardings with the face of PM Narendra Modi which appeared more like State sponsored advertisements than informational hoardings. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who hails from the same party, visited the fair several times with his whole cabinet and even held cabinet meetings amidst the river on a boat during the fair just to influence the Hindu voters and get media attention for the same. The government tried to portray the event as the biggest Kumbh fair organized in forever, but the reality was different. Just for the sake of organizing the Kumbh, many farmers who grow their crops on the basin of Ganges and Yamuna lost their crops as the irrigation water was stopped and most of the contracts for all the services and facilities were given to the private players. Even many activists claimed of a huge corruption in the expenditure of the budget which is documented in the film. Altogether there were 12,000 sanitization workers employed during the fair but despite the huge budget, which was further increased by three times, they were paid just INR 285 per day which is even less than the minimum wage guaranteed by the government. These workers were exploited day and night and were made to work double shifts, a lot more than their designated time, sometimes even without pay. The documentary records the testimonials of labor and activists who claimed that they were not paid enough even to survive in bone chilling winter days and nights along with their families. The workers also organized a strike during the fair and after which the wages were increased only by INR 15. To suppress the issue and manipulate the reality of the event, the Prime Minister himself visited the fair twice and washed the feet of sanitation workers (who are lower caste) to appease them, but sadly they were not satisfied with the mere show off and persisted on genuine increase in their wages. As the name suggests, the documentary captures the magnificence of the fair, as well as the darker side of this extravaganza where the common devotees and workers were denied the basic facilities and were exploited on the name of faith, belief and religion.
Embrace of Mateos Blood Part 4
Horror
Film Details
Kumbh fair, which is held at Prayagraj (formerly known as Allahabad) is considered to be the largest religious congregation on Earth as a whole city is built up for the fair which is bigger than Vatican City. The fair mostly looks like a replica of a Hindu city (if ever happens to be made) of India. The social and cultural history and relevance of the fair is magnificent and very rich.
Kumbh fair has its historical evidence in writings of Xuanzang (Buddhist traveller) and even in the past work of the famous historian Al Baluni. Although the gathering at the fair used to be very organic in nature in the past, the Kumbh of 2018 turned into a state sponsored religious event and was made into a religious propaganda of Indian Political parties to attract the 'Hindu vote bank' which forms the majority of the voting population of the country. Kumbh of 2019 was a political event as it was organized right before India's general elections of 2019.
The ruling party, 'Bhartiya Janta Party', which is a right wing Hindu appeasing party, used it as a major political tool to propagate their agenda and to attract Hindu voters. This was a major tactic that changed the relevance of this Kumbh fair from the previous ones. The ruling party even changed the name of the entire city from Allahabad (third oldest city of the world) to Prayagraj, which is a more Hindu name and has a more religious significance than a cultural one.
The Budget of this Kumbh was 4,200 Crores which was more than three times the budget of previous Kumbh fairs. In this documentary, we have tried to show this religious propaganda and how the ruling part tried to use this ancient organic fair for their electoral benefits. Everywhere in the fair the government placed the hoardings with the face of PM Narendra Modi which appeared more like State sponsored advertisements than informational hoardings.
The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who hails from the same party, visited the fair several times with his whole cabinet and even held cabinet meetings amidst the river on a boat during the fair just to influence the Hindu voters and get media attention for the same. The government tried to portray the event as the biggest Kumbh fair organized in forever, but the reality was different. Just for the sake of organizing the Kumbh, many farmers who grow their crops on the basin of Ganges and Yamuna lost their crops as the irrigation water was stopped and most of the contracts for all the services and facilities were given to the private players.
Even many activists claimed of a huge corruption in the expenditure of the budget which is documented in the film. Altogether there were 12,000 sanitization workers employed during the fair but despite the huge budget, which was further increased by three times, they were paid just INR 285 per day which is even less than the minimum wage guaranteed by the government. These workers were exploited day and night and were made to work double shifts, a lot more than their designated time, sometimes even without pay.
The documentary records the testimonials of labor and activists who claimed that they were not paid enough even to survive in bone chilling winter days and nights along with their families. The workers also organized a strike during the fair and after which the wages were increased only by INR 15. To suppress the issue and manipulate the reality of the event, the Prime Minister himself visited the fair twice and washed the feet of sanitation workers (who are lower caste) to appease them, but sadly they were not satisfied with the mere show off and persisted on genuine increase in their wages.
As the name suggests, the documentary captures the magnificence of the fair, as well as the darker side of this extravaganza where the common devotees and workers were denied the basic facilities and were exploited on the name of faith, belief and religion..