There is no more ambiguity. The lid on the stampede tragedy at the Mahakumbh in which more than hundred pilgrims died according to unofficial reports, though the Uttar Pradesh government put the figure at thirty, has been taken off. At least three reasons are said to be responsible for the gruesome tragedy. First, the clash of egos between the top BJP leaders in their mission to attain the status of the new public face of the politics of Hindutva, second, saffronisation of the Uttar Pradesh bureaucracy and police and third, the pervasive passion of the BJP leaders to use the facilities of VVIP treatment to boost their political stature.
The urge to assert supremacy and envy to enjoy the VVIP status were intertwined to such an extent that all the official and administrative norms were violated by the bureaucrats to serve their political masters. In their quest to identify with the rulers, the bureaucrats and police office left the pilgrims at the mercy of the gods. Though the state government put the figure of the dead pilgrims at 30, top police officials and even intelligence personnel confide that the figure is more than 150. A retired police official said that Yogi has acquired expertise for concealing the actual figures. He recalled that hundred of dead bodies, victims of Covid, were found strewn on the Ganga bed, but Yogi government denied the truth.
Yogi who had projected and organised the Kumbh Mela as the biggest religious cum commercial event on the earth, has already passed the buck and blamed the pilgrims for the incident, saying “they should have taken the holy dip at the points nearest to their camps along the 12km stretch of the river instead of trying to gather at the Sangam”. Initially he tried to play down the intensity of the episode by saying that some injuries had taken place. He had even told the people not to believe “rumours”. But it was only after Narendra Modi making it public, he had to confess that deaths had occurred due to stampede.
Modi announced this at an election rally in New Delhi: “We have lost some holy souls in the sad incident at the Mahakumbh. Some people have also suffered injuries. I express my condolences to the grieving families and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured. I am in constant touch with the UP government. Crores of devotees have reached there to mark Mauni Amavasya. The visitors are taking the holy bath uninterrupted after some initial hiccups.” Modi is said to be holding the brief for Shah. Obviously this announcement has not as a surprise for the political circle.
When the cries of crores of the Hindus, who had descended at Prayagraj in search of illusive salvation were tearing the deafening silence of the mid-night, Yogi was trying to absolve himself of the moral responsibility. His officials were busy concealing the facts and figures. The manner in which the bureaucrats behaved at Mahakumbh mela, it simply endorsed the belief that bureaucracy has been completely saffronised. The victims claim that it was the announcement by the deputy commissioner of Prayag that triggered the stampede. If he would not have blared over mike to rush for the bath, the people would not have rushed.
Unfortunately, the event which was planned to be the biggest event of the century and across the globe, turned out to the biggest nightmare as it utterly lacked the element of effective management and proper planning. The pilgrims who lost their kins alleged: “The police had blocked all the pontoon bridges in the night itself and asked the devotees not to go to the Sangam area. Police pushed the crowd back with their lathis around 1.45am. Nobody had jumped the barricades, but the police started beating with lathis.”
This small piece of information makes it obvious that police was not concerned of managing the crowd. It may also be construed that before their deployment, the police personnel were not apprised of the basics of the crowd management. Probably in their perception, the pilgrims did not deserve it. One thing is absolutely clear that the UP police which has earned the nickname of “encounter specialist”, was found to be wanting in managing the crowd.
It knew that around 8-10 crore devotees would descend in Prayagraj for holy dip. Naturally they should have been mentally ready to meet the challenges. They could have also visualised that between 1am and 2am, some people may try to jump over the barricades. There are 20 temporary ghats in the Mela area. They should have spoken to the sadhus and decided that they will take out their procession and do Amrit Snan once the crowd pressure eases. The government should have taken sufficient security measures.
Swami Brahmanand Puri, the Mahamandaleshwar of the Niranjani Akhara, said: “The Mela administration doesn’t appear interested in managing the festival, it is interested in appeasing the VIPs. I saw on many occasions that officers were busy making the VIPs happy when the devotees were struggling to reach the Kumbh. The administration has created hurdles for the people. We had warned the state administration, but they didn’t listen to us. As a result, some people have lost their children and some have lost their fathers.”
In a way it is also a contempt to the religious beliefs and faith of the poor Hindus. The UP government, religious event organisers and sadhus attached to Saffron ecosystem had created the impression that the event which was held after 144 years would open the door of salvation. Naturally the salvation seeker Hindus rushed to Prayagraj and met with the Kumbh grave. For the RSS and Saffron ecosystem the Hindus simply have vote value and relevance and nothing more than that. It is said that the Kumbh Mela was being used by Yogi and Shah to outwit each other. The careless attitude of the police is being cited as the example for intensification of power struggle between Shah and Yogi.
Yogi has also come under sharp attack for promoting VIP culture. Surprisingly Shah preferred to have bath in the morning of the sordid incident. Defence minister Rajnath Singh and many other union ministers had their bath on the same day. Yogi has been a regular visitor and even during the day he had held the cabinet meeting. These incidents underline that the saffron leaders were more interested in using the event to promote their images. They had wilfully ignored the reality that the police will be hard placed to execute the task of crowd management seriously.
Instead of allowing the politician to indulge in show off, Yogi should have reined in. The dangers of uncontrolled crowds at religious events like the Kumbh Mela in India are neither new nor unexpected. Historian Kama Maclean had observed in her book Pilgrimage and Power: “Crowd control at large melas became an urgent problem after 1820, when 485 pilgrims were crushed to death at the Haridwarghat.”
After February 3, 1954 incident of Kumbh stampede in which more than 700 person had died and for which Jawaharlal Nehru’s presence was blamed, his presence was condemned as being a factor, though he was not present at the site, he had nevertheless cautioned not to allow the VIPs to visit Kumbh during the celebration. Again in 1988 the then UP chief minister N D Tiwari had personally refused permission to some union ministers and state chief ministers to visit Kumbh as it involved security of the pilgrims. It is beyond comprehension that in spite of having many such precedents, how could these VVIP persons should have been allowed to visit. One expects that Modi who is to take a holy dip at the Mahakumbh on February 5 will keep away. (IPA Service)
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