Kumbh stampede: A deadly cocktail of ‘VIP culture’ and mismanagement

The world’s largest religious congregation witnessed a gory stampede at the dawn of January 29. By 2 pm, the official toll of the midnight mayhem had reached 20. But unofficial reports coming from the tragedy spot in Prayagraj indicated that the toll must be in the range of 30 to 40.

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh claimed that they had made elaborate arrangements for the Maha Kumbh Mela. In a series of televised appeals, Yogi personally called upon crores of Hindus to come and take a holy dip at the Sangam, promising them full security. Then, why did this tragedy occur? What exactly happened?

Powerless police

Krishna Mohan, son of a prominent BJP leader in Prayagraj who was present at the stampede site, told The Federal that despite their deployment in huge numbers, police forces became totally powerless in the face of millions who were desperate to smash all obstacles to rush to Sangam.

“Barricades were pulverized by the sea of humanity forcing its way,” said Krishna Mohan. To give an idea of the rush, he says though he set out at 3 am to walk back to his home in Rasoolabad, 12 km from the tragedy spot, he could reach there only by 12 noon.

Also read: LIVE | Kumbh stampede: No update on casualties yet; Yogi blames devotees

Where did administration fail?

But why did the Yogi government, which was focusing on constructing 50 lakh tents on the river diaras (islets) and more than 1 lakh toilets for devotees, fail miserably in crowd control despite deploying a massive police force?

Why did more than 40,000 security forces, including paramilitary forces and National Disaster Response Force personnel, besides UP Special Police, Special Task Force, and the local police, fail to control the mob from going berserk? Where exactly did they fail and how did the stampede occur?

Here is what Shiv Shankar, a vegetable vendor who lives in the Sangam area and brings vegetables grown on the banks of the Ganga to downtown Prayagraj for sale, told The Federal.

How admin bungled on Mauni Amavasya eve

“The administration had divided the main approach road to Sangam into six barricaded compartments and were letting in people in batches of around 10,000 to 20,000 in each batch to avoid a stampede,” narrated Shiv Shankar.

“The arrangement worked well even on Sankranti despite the similarly massive crowd as on Wednesday. The Sankranti snan (dip) is equally auspicious as the Mauni Amavasya one. But on the eve of Mauni Amavasya, they bungled. The seamless flow of batches was disrupted by VIP snan,” he went on.

“First, Yogi-ji (Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself came for snan and the entire UP Cabinet took a dip as well. The Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) came and took a dip two days before the tragedy, and it was Opposition SP leader Akhilesh’s (Yadav) turn on the previous day. On these days of VIP snan, the regular flow of ordinary people was needlessly blocked for long durations. So, the size of the crowd waiting to take their turn swelled enormously.”

Also read: Kumbh Tragedy: 'Govt not equipped to handle such swarming crowd'

People desperate for holy dip

Shiv Shankar further added: “Mauni Amavasya is considered a very auspicious day and the general belief is that taking the Amrit Snan on this day would ensure a place in heaven. When they were made to wait for more than 48 hours, people became desperate. They did not want to miss the opportunity of booking their trip to heaven.

“When the day of Amrit Snan dawned at midnight (Wednesday), the people waiting at the barricade about 2 km away became restless. A huge crowd of 2 to 3 crore people were waiting there and losing their patience. They feared they might be deprived of their chance for the holy snan despite walking dozens of kilometres from their villages and spending several hours even at the barricades.”

Shiv Shankar confirmed that the barricades were strong enough and made of iron. “But when some youths started climbing on the barricades to jump on the other side and proceed further, the barricades fell and the crowds ran over those and rushed forward. But the people who had already been allowed in were waiting in the next barricaded compartment and most of them were asleep. The rushing crowd crushed them to death. Most were women and children,” he added.

Conceptual failure

Manoj Dubey, a local BJP leader in Prayagraj, told The Federal that the police officials at the barricades were helpless. They had been instructed not to even carry lathis. They were instructed from above, “Pyar se hee log ko samhalo” (Control the crowds with love and not with lathis).

“So, when one barricade fell, they were unable to use any arms. Everything went out of control. So, the larger conceptual failure on how to manage a gathering of around 5 crore led to crowd-control failure at one barricade,” Dubey noted.

Also read: Kumbh stampede: List of major stampedes at temples, other religious events in India

Overworked police gave up

Sunil Maurya, a former AISA leader in Allahabad University and now UP secretary of the Revolutionary Youth Association, rushed with his comrades from the AISA office located 5 km away on the main approach road towards the Sangam.

“This mammoth crowd control was clearly beyond the means of the police. After the tragedy at 1 am, there were two mini-transgressions at two other barricades, one at 4.30 am and another at 6 am, though the situation was quickly brought under control,” Maurya narrated.

“The overworked police, suffering from the round-the-clock deployment for over a month, now in open areas in the bitter cold, seemed fed up and simply gave up in the face of the angry milling crowd,” he concluded.

Hospitals cut off by crowd

A government doctor told The Federal on condition of anonymity, “The makeshift hospital established for an emergency at the Kumbh site was already full. More than 500 people were injured in the stampede and many of them seriously. Rushing them to the other hospitals in the city became difficult as even by 12 noon, ambulances could not move to the Sangam area from outside, and vehicles from Sangam area could not reach the city centre because of the huge crowd still blocking the way. Kumbh has shown that hospital facilities are grossly inadequate.”

Shivsevak Singh, a former corporator in Prayagraj, blamed the tragedy on the “VIP culture”. The entire attention of the police force was on ensuring free passage for VIPs. The crowds swelled when their normal flow was blocked and then it became uncontrollable, he said.

Also read: Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 in Prayagraj: All you need to know

Who will pay the price?

Mohammad Salim, a Leftist leader in Prayagraj, also blamed it on Yogi’s attempt to make political capital out of the religious pilgrimage. “They hyped up the event so much… Not only has Yogi’s image-building exercise suffered a setback, the tragedy is bound to take a political toll on Yogi too. Criticism is mounting not only from SP and Congress but disquiet is brewing among BJP ranks as well,” he said.

“This is not the first time Kumbh Mela is witnessing a stampede. In 1954, the Kumbh Mela saw a stampede and Jawaharlal Nehru himself had to take the blame. Again, in the 2013 Kumbh stampede, 42 people died and Akhilesh Yadav had to pay a price politically. This time, Yogi will have it,” he remarked.

Since Amrit Snan was cancelled for several hours after the tragedy, people were angry at that too. It resumed only around 2.30 pm but the processions were largely subdued. One can only hope that similar tragedies will not recur on the coming bathing days.