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PM keen to visit Kumbh Mela

However, according to official sources quoted by The Statesman on Saturday, the Special Protection Group, which is responsible for Vajpayee's security, is less than enthusiastic given the enormous logistical problems.

"It will also be a nightmare for the organisers, already hassled by threats from the militant Lashkar-e-Tayiba and sadhus opposing five-star arrangements for foreigners," the Statesman said.

Held once every 12 years, the mela is expected to draw up to 70 million Hindu devotees over its 42-day duration -- more than four times the number that attended the 1989 event.

To make matters worse, the prime minister reportedly wants to participate in the most auspicious day -- January 24 -- when 30 million people are expected to take a purificatory dip at the spot where the holy Ganges and Yamuna rivers converge near Allahabad.

A visit by Vajpayee would also have political implications. Radical Hindu leaders are expected to use the event to announce dates for the construction of a temple -- devoted to the god Ram -- over the ruins of a mosque razed by Hindu fanatics in 1992 in the northern town of Ayodhya.

The destruction of the mosque triggered some of post-Independence worst Hindu-Muslim violence which left thousands dead.

Vajpayee reignited the Ayodhya row last month when he described the temple construction campaign as an "unfinished task" rooted in national feeling.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has appealed to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad -- the group spearheading the temple drive -- not to announce the dates at the mela.

The Kumbh Mela: Complete coverage

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