At a press conference in Jammu on February 4, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah responded to questions about his Maha Kumbh attendance in Prayagraj. “I bathe every day at my house,” he replied to a question on when he would take the holy dip. Further, Abdullah said, “My God is neither in the mosque nor in the temple nor the gurdwara. My God is inside me.
Coming to the Delhi Assembly elections, Abdullah said with much humor that he would have to become an astrologer to predict the outcome. “How would I know who will come and who will go? I did not even know about this place,” he added, pointing to the uncertainty of political events.
In another incident, the reactions to the stampede at the recent Maha Kumbh, in which 30 devotees lost their lives, were labelled as insensitive. BJP MP Hema Malini termed the situation “not a big deal” and said the incident was being “exaggerated.” She said,
“We went to Kumbh, we had a very nice bath. It is right that an incident took place, but it was not a big incident. It is being exaggerated. So many people are coming; it is very difficult to manage, but we are doing our best.”
This came after Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the incident and demanded transparent reports on the deaths caused by the stampede. Yadav expressed concern for the families who came to the religious event for blessings but returned home carrying the bodies of their family members.
