What led to the deadly stampede in India’s Hathras?
Tragedy unfolded in Hathras in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh on July 2, when at least 123 people perished in a stampede that broke out at a religious congregation. The event was addressed by a preacher who was virtually obscure in India until the incident happened.
In their initial response to the massive casualties, the police said overcrowding led to the stampede, as seen in a video widely circulated on social media. The victims were part of an estimated crowd of 250,000 people who had gathered under a shamiana near Phulrai village to listen to the religious preacher Saakar Vishwa Hari, also known as Bhole Baba—a police constable who took voluntary retirement after 18 years of service. The stampede occurred when the preacher—formerly known as Surajpal Singh—and his wife were leaving the congregation after the delivery of his sermon.
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The followers of the preacher fell on top of each other as they tumbled down a slope into a water-logged ditch, witnesses said. According to the Uttar Pradesh police, the stampede was triggered when the followers started to collect earth from the ground where the preacher had passed.
Hathras is not the first instance of a deadly stampede at religious gatherings in India. Among the major stampedes at religious events were the deaths of more than 340 devotees at Maharashtra's Mandhardevi temple in 2005 and 250 people at Rajasthan's Chamunda Devi temple in 2008. A stampede at a religious gathering at Naina Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh resulted in the loss of 162 lives in 2008.
Uttar Pradesh's saffron-robed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a judicial probe by a retired high court judge into the stampede. But the incident has once again brought to the fore two aspects of Indian society: i) crumbling infrastructure and deficiencies in crowd management in public places, particularly at religious events attended by large numbers of people; and ii) the mushrooming and flourishing of the "Baba" culture of individual religious preachers with large followings, many of whom have dubious credentials, outside established institutions and orders of faith.
A report by the Uttar Pradesh police said that over 250,000 people attended the event in Hathras, which is more than triple the 80,000 for whom organisers had obtained permission. This leads to the inescapable conclusion that the local administration was a mute spectator as the crowd swelled beyond the permitted limit. It is now clear that the venue of the event did not have multiple exits in case of a possible emergency and lacked makeshift medical facilities that should have been in place for an event of such magnitude.
Hathras district administration official Ashish Kumar admitted there were insufficient exits in the vast tent. Sanjay Srivastava, a disaster management expert, agreed, stating that the event violated safety norms by being held in a makeshift tent without ensuring multiple exit routes. "Initial reports suggest that the closed enclosure of the tent led to suffocation," said Aligarh IGP Shalabh Mathur. This has been corroborated by Agra district's Chief Medical Officer Arun Srivastava, who stated that according to post-mortem reports, people died due to blood accumulation in the thoracic cavity, asphyxia, and rib injuries.
Adityanath blamed the "sevadars" (volunteers of the congregation), saying they kept pushing people to keep them away from the preacher, which led to the stampede. He made it clear that the "sevadars" do not allow the administration to enter such events. When asked why they do not allow the administration to enter the congregation venue, Adityanath said, "The administration assumes it is a religious event and that the 'sevadars' will take responsibility. Big events are organised this way. Police are deployed in the outer ring for security." While nobody is saying that the congregation's organisers should not be held accountable, the state administration cannot abdicate its responsibility. That responsibility at a mass event, even if organised privately, goes well beyond granting permissions and providing security because it involves public safety.
The story of Bhole Baba is the same old tale of small-time preachers from India's rural and semi-urban hinterland carefully building relationships with local communities, eventually acquiring cult-like status and amassing a huge following, sometimes even establishing political connections. Bhole Baba gained prominence on the religious circuit in northern India, attracting lakhs of followers, including senior government officials and politicians primarily from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi.
Bhole Baba belongs to the Jatav community at the bottom of the caste hierarchy and reportedly wields influence among the scheduled castes and other marginalised classes. Muslims are also among his followers. The fact that a majority of the victims in the Hathras disaster were women highlights that they form a main base of Bhole Baba's followers. Many of these women in villages and small towns seek spiritual solace after experiencing family discord, domestic violence, and poverty.
Bhole Baba is usually accompanied by his wife and lives a luxurious life at his ashram in the Patiyali area of Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh. He not only organises congregations but also solemnises marriages at these events. The weekly congregations, held every Tuesday, are managed by the Baba's "sevadars," who handle arrangements from food for attendees to managing traffic at the venue.
Like a number of other individual self-styled godmen, Bhole Baba, too, is no stranger to controversies. He has faced allegations of land-grabbing and magic healing. He once got into a row after claiming to have assured some of his followers that he could bring a dead girl, who was taken to the crematorium, back to life.
Controversies and allegations of sexual abuse against some self-styled godmen have not stopped many Indians from being in awe of them. According to social scientists, these self-styled godmen often serve not just as spiritual guides, but also double up as confidants and business advisors to wealthy families. They function as key players in a vast network of connections among bureaucrats and businessmen.
Pallab Bhattacharya is a special correspondent for The Daily Star. He writes from New Delhi, India.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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