“We have unanimously resolved to go ahead with the construction of the Ram temple anytime after March 2002” thundered a seemingly pleased Ashok Singhal, leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a religious organisation often seen to be furthering the agenda of the ruling Indian political party Bharatiya Janata (BJP).

Much of what Singhal was saying was the usual stuff. But what was unusual was the venue. This was the Mahakumbh Mela - where the millions had assembled for religious and cultural purposes.But Singhal and his associates were choosing this place to push what was really a political agenda.

The attempt by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to build a temple dedicated to Lord Rama on a disputed site of a mosque, is one of the most contentious political issues in India today . The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party owes its roller coaster ride to victory in the elections to the slogan to build Ram temple at the disputed site, and the VHP has been in the forefront of this campaign.

Religion and politics, though ostensibly distinct, have often overlapped in Indian politics. And, in a country, which is deeply religious, politicians for this reason look to religious gatherings - invariably many times bigger than the meetings political parties can organise - to further their causes. And the Kumbh - the largest human gathering on earth - has always evoked awe and fear among these figures

The British, when they first discovered the Kumbh, sensed potential danger if the Kumbh became an occasion for nationalists to spread their message. A similar festival, though at a much smaller scale, ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ had become an effective political meeting ground in Maharashtra. But the Kumbh had always been largely a peoples’ affair, and the British, sensing the potential of “misuse” of Kumbh, by Indian freedom fighters, and the futility of trying to stop an assembly of such a huge dimension, decided to instead bestow their own patronage on the Kumbh.

This tradition of nervous government support of the Kumbh continues to date. Governments, even while providing infrastructure assistance, have always kept at arm’s length. But now the dynamic seems to be changing. The Mela is now being used to support new and radical political causes, and the VHP, occupying almost three times the space of the neighbouring monastic orders, seems determined to make the Kumbh its new political soapbox…

But how effective these efforts will be remains to be seen: Paratu Baba, a devotee of Lord Rama - to whom the VHP proposes to build the grand disputed temple - dismissively plays his cymbals at his make-shift two feet by two feet tent temple on the bank of the Ganges; ‘They (the VHP) want to build the Ram temple, but their motivations are not religious. I would have nothing to do with them’.

And ultimately, even the most famous of India’s politicians have to accept the resoundingly apolitical nature of this festival: Yesterday, the leader of the opposition congress party, Ms Sonia Gandhi also arrived at the Mahakumbh to take a dip in the Ganges.

But this member of perhaps the most powerful political dynasty in India’s history will still had to step down from her air-conditioned limousine, to walk the last few kilometres to the Ganges by foot. For the moment at least, everyone is equal in the eyes of mother Ganga.