January 31, 2025
NEW DELHI – Indian opposition parties have criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its handling of a vast Hindu festival after more than 30 people were killed in a stampede at the event on Jan 29.
The six-week Maha Kumbh Mela is being held in BJP-run Uttar Pradesh state, and opposition parties have accused the state government of mismanaging what is billed as the world’s largest gathering of humanity. An estimated 400 million visitors are expected in the city of Prayagraj for the festival, which began on Jan 13.
“Half-baked arrangements, VIP movement, paying more attention to self-promotion and mismanagement are responsible for this,” Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X on Jan 29. “Such arrangements despite spending thousands of crores of rupees are condemnable.”
Mr Akhilesh Yadav, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and president of the opposition Samajwadi Party, demanded that the management of the Maha Kumbh be handed over to the Indian Army to “restore faith among devotees”.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters in Lucknow that the tragedy was “heartbreaking” and announced compensation of 2.5 million rupees (S$39,000) for the family of each of the dead. He has also ordered a judicial probe into the pre-dawn crowd crush.
The state’s administration on Jan 30 also announced additional measures for better crowd management, such as banning the entry of all vehicles into the Mela area, including those for VVIPs, and setting up one-way routes for pilgrims.
During the festival, devotees from across India and the globe take a dip at the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges and Jamuna, and the mythical Saraswati. It is an act believed to absolve them of their sins and bring salvation from a perpetual cycle of birth and death.
While the Kumbh Mela is held once in 12 years, this year’s celebration is being observed as the Maha or grand Kumbh Mela that occurs once only every 144 years, coinciding with a special celestial alignment of the Sun, Moon and Jupiter.
In addition, Jan 29 was regarded as the most auspicious day for a dip, with an estimated 80 million visitors – about a third of the entire state’s population – congregating in the city on their way to the confluence.
The tragedy occurred between 1am and 2am as throngs of devotees broke through barricades in their attempt to get to a triangular land mass known as the Sangam Nose, which is sandwiched between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers and considered an especially holy spot for a dip.
Media reports claimed that the police had blocked access routes to prevent overcrowding at the Sangam Nose, causing crowds to surge at its barricades. Witness accounts said the police later began pushing the devotees back with batons and hitting them, triggering panic.
Devotees said they had pleaded with the police to open barricaded routes to thin out the surging crowd but that the police did not respond. As the crowd swelled, people started to faint, Reuters reported.
Mr Vaibhav Krishna, a deputy inspector-general at the festival, and two other officers told Reuters that the crowd of 80 million was four times larger than expected and devotees had insisted on going to the main bathing area rather than spreading out. The Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, in comparison, drew 1.8 million people in 2024.
A blaze that gutted around 15 tents at the Mela venue on Jan 30 caused further concern, even though no fatalities were reported in this incident.
Opposition parties have urged the BJP-led central and state governments to improve arrangements for the remainder of the festival, which is being held with an estimated budget of 70 billion rupees.
There was also criticism of the state administration that had delayed information on the death toll, triggering speculation of a cover-up.
Reports also said that devotees were struggling to find their missing loved ones, while thousands of vehicles carrying pilgrims were stuck at the borders of Prayagraj district after the authorities banned their entry following the stampede.
Dr Shashi Kant Pandey, a political science professor at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, said Mr Adityanath, who is also a Hindu monk, had hoped to pull off a successful Maha Kumbh Mela to showcase his organisational abilities, with the BJP even planning to gain political mileage out of it.
“But now it would be difficult for Yogi Adityanath and the BJP to claim that we organised it successfully when 30 people have lost their lives,” Dr Pandey told The Straits Times. “It is definitely a big jolt,” he added, even though he acknowledged that in the long run, the tragedy would not have much impact on Mr Adityanath’s rising popularity.
Stampedes at large religious and spiritual gatherings have occurred regularly in India, the world’s most populous country, with more than 1.4 billion people.
During the previous Kumbh Mela in 2013, 42 people were killed in a crowd crush on a train platform in Prayagraj, then known as Allahabad. Mr Yadav from the Samajwadi Party was then the chief minister.
In July 2024, 121 people were killed during a stampede at a prayer meeting organised by a local guru in Hathras, also in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Dr O.P. Singh, a former director-general of Uttar Pradesh Police, said the latest incident at the Maha Kumbh Mela has raised pressing questions. “A congregation of such magnitude cannot afford stagnation. The longer a crowd lingers in a high-density zone, the greater the risk of a crisis,” he wrote in The Indian Express on Jan 30.
“Unfortunately, this tragedy underscores the critical gap in executing this, reinforcing the need for a more dynamic dispersal strategy that prioritises rapid movement without causing panic.”
But the Jan 29 tragedy seems not to have really dented the ongoing religious fervour at the Maha Kumbh, with millions of devotees still thronging the confluence for a dip. The state government also showered flower petals on devotees from a helicopter that hovered over them.
Mr Krishna Soni, a student from the western state of Rajasthan’s Bikaner city, and his family of eight linked themselves together with string to ensure they would not lose one another in the massive crowd. “We are walking very carefully and trying to avoid the crowded areas,” he told Reuters.
- Debarshi Dasgupta is The Straits Times’ India correspondent covering the country and other parts of South Asia for the paper.