Faith Management

If Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis manages to pull off the 2027 Simhastha Kumbh Mela in Nashik without incident, he may well find himself showered with a peculiar kind of glory: not merely as a competent organiser, but as a ‘better’ strategist than Uttar Pradesh’s saffron-clad strongman, CM Yogi Adityanath.

That, on the face of it, is a bold claim. Adityanath presides over India’s most populous state and has successfully positioned himself as a Hindutva icon-in-chief. His management of the 2019 Prayagraj Kumbh which drew over 240 million people was hailed as a logistical triumph. This year’s Mahakumbh was even grander, being attended by a staggering 660 million visitors and marking a high point in Yogi’s trajectory. And yet, the 2025 Mahakumbh suffered a blemish in form of a deadly stampede which resulted in at least 30 deaths, casting a shadow on an otherwise flawless management of an event which was studied even by global researchers.

Fadnavis has begun his journey towards 2027 Nashik Kumbh with meticulous calculation and a quiet sense of command. The Nashik Kumbh which occurs once every 12 years is no mean event. Split between the Vaishnav gathering at Ramkunda and the Shaiva rites at Trimbakeshwar, it will span months in 2027. With the potential to draw tens of millions of pilgrims, it will test Maharashtra’s civic infrastructure to its limits.

That Fadnavis has already laid out a roadmap nearly two years in advance is telling. In Nashik, he met with seers of both sects, the powerful heads of all 13 Akharas. The grand opening ceremony is set for October 31, 2026.

More significantly, the numbers behind the scenes suggest Fadnavis is playing a longer game. Over Rs. 4,000 crore worth of tenders for infrastructure have already been processed. Nashik’s municipal plans for clean water and sanitation are ambitious and well-timed. A dedicated Rs. 2,000 crore-budget for keeping the Godavari River clean, notoriously polluted in the past, is a pointed nod to environmental stewardship.

This is not merely bureaucratic box-ticking. Fadnavis appears to be rebranding himself as no longer just the BJP’s dependable technocrat in western India, but a man capable of managing scale, sentiment and symbolism in equal measure.

There is still ample time for things to go awry. The history of Kumbh Melas is peppered with tragic footnotes. A mismanaged crowd surge, a missed infrastructure deadline or an outbreak of disease could upend the best-laid plans. Yet should Fadnavis succeed in staging a seamless Kumbh in Nashik, it would certainly be met with thumping approval from the BJP high command.

The Nashik Kumbh will not only be a test of logistics but a referendum on political agility. In the shadow of the larger-than-life Yogi, Fadnavis has often seemed the quieter partner in the top saffron echelon. But if the Simhastha unfolds without mishap, he may well emerge with a reputation for competence and strategic timing that surpasses Yogi’s in the crowded pantheon of the BJP’s rising stars.