A SPRAWLING mega-city, purpose-built for a festival, covering 15 square miles, attracting half a billion visitors over 45 days — oh, and it’s also built on a flood plain. This might sound like the Glastonbury Festival, but it is actually the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest-ever religious festival. It is the subject of Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges (BBC1, Wednesday), an exploration of the presenter and broadcast journalist’s attempt to reconnect with the Hindu faith of his family.
Rajan describes himself as an atheist, but, like many people after they become parents, he has become more receptive to getting back in touch with his roots. After the death of his father in 2023, Rajan has struggled to process his grief; so, could a holy pilgrimage to the land of his ancestors help to heal him?
Rajan’s honesty and willingness to be vulnerable mean that there are some deeply moving moments. He expresses many of the classic barriers to faith, such as frustration with the notion of a loving God in a world of great suffering; but I suspect that he was unsatisfied by some of the answers that he received. That he discovers power and meaning in “doing something that a lot of people have done for a very long time” suggests that he was also profoundly changed by the experience.
I cannot fault his wholeheartedness in entering into the spirit of it all, even though at least one part was hard for me to watch, as it involved other people’s feet — a particular horror of mine. Rajan has no such scruples: “I love giving foot massages,” he says, enthusiastically getting stuck in, remaining faithful to the Hindu principle of loving service, and proving, once again, that atheists are often better people than Christians.
Will Nigel Farage Be PM? (Channel 4, Thursday) was not a question that I have spent much time worrying about (Comment, 20 June). After watching this Dispatches documentary, presented by the Times columnist Fraser Nelson, I’m a little worried now. This is a considered exploration of the appeal of Farage and Reform UK, taking into account recent polling and the views of a focus group from Solihull.
Polling has suggested that 39 per cent of people think that Farage would make a good Prime Minister; so this really is a worthwhile question to tackle, for those who think that the charismatic showman turned politician already receives too much unwarranted exposure.
Informed exposure just might be the thing that advances a proper challenge to the ambitions of Reform UK. Nelson does an excellent job of popping Farage’s overblown balloon of manifesto promises, demonstrating that, while he certainly does have obvious appeal for people, much of the rhetoric really is just fresh air. I hope as many people as possible watch it.
