A mass gathering of devotees at a temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, has come in for criticism today. The news agency ANI reported that a large number of devotees gathered at the famous Hanuman Garhi Temple a day after the Yogi Adityanath government lifted restrictions on crowd-gathering.

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All districts in the most populous State have come out of the shadow of a weeks-long lockdown. Devotees didn't want to lose the opportunity to gather at the temple.

While there is no explicit ban on mass gatherings, it's shocking that scores of pilgrims went to the place of worship even though the pandemic is very much on. It goes without saying that the Centre and all State governments have to work out a strategy to keep tabs on mass gatherings at least till 70% of the population in the country has been vaccinated.

Several Netizens commented that gatherings like this one are nothing but a precursor to another wave. The governments are unwilling to control such gatherings. It may be noted that instances of mass religious congregations were witnessed in parts of India even in April, when the second wave was raging already. In the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, for instance, a local festival was organized where people threw cow dungs at one another during Ugadi.