Kumbh Nagar (Allahabad), Jan 22: Ignoring reservations of the mela administration about providing security to her, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today took a symbolic dip at Sangam on the occasion of Mahakumbh calling it a "religious and not a political" trip.On a day when there was not much of the milling Kumbh crowd, Sonia entered the water after performing a Ganga puja amidst chanting of Vedic slokas by two pandits around 1500 hours.Standing in waist-high water, she bowed and scooped a palmful of water and sprinkled over her head and body before clasping her hands in prayer. She did not immerse herself.While some supporters around clapped, a number of onlookers were kept at a distance.Earlier, she was brought in a speedboat to the "Sangamnose" accompanied by security personnel and policemen who travelled in five other boats.Till she completed her rituals, no boat traffic was allowed in the vicinity.Immediately after her symbolic bath, Sonia met the Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth Swami Swarapoonanda Saraswati at the Kumbh village and had a private audience.On the significance of her meeting with the Shankaracharya, Sonia said "it has been a tradition of her family to seek blessings of seers."Asked about her visit to Kumbh, she said she was not new to the festival. "I had visited the Kumbh once with my children," she added.She accused the VHP of trying to "communalise" the Ram temple issue. However, when reporters sought her comments on the VHP-sponsored Dharam Sansad decision on temple construction, she declined.Earlier, Sonia flew in at Baramauli airport here and drove straight to Anand Bhawan, the ancestral home of the Nehru-Gandhi family, before heading for the Kumbh mela area for meeting the Shankaracharya and Satpal Maharaj.Sonia was accompanied by senior Congress leaders N D Tiwari and M L Fotedar, UPCC president Sriprakash Jaiswal and the party's legislature party leader in UP Pramod Tiwari.
