By Rajan Narayan

ON early Wednesday morning, January 29, 2025 around 3am, there was a stampede of pilgrims rushing through the narrow gullies of the sangam area in Prayagraj Haridwar (in Uttar Pradesh) which is the most coveted bathing spot. The early rush was partly because taking a dip in the early morning hours of mauni Amavasya Wednesday is considered to be a very pious and blessed act.
Apparently, there is only one entry point and one exit point here where everyone wants to take a dip or “dubki” five times (the auspicious number). With something like 40 crore pilgrims congregating at the river point it was asking for a tragedy to take place and so it happened, bridges collapsed and people trampled over in the melee of old, sick, pilgrim groups, children in tow. Disorganised madness.
The holy chants turned into cries for help and rescue. Amongst those who lost their life was a 50-year-old woman pilgrim from Madhya Pradesh. Her daughter too was critically injured. The death toll in the resulting stampedes has risen to 30 and adding up to cross 60 plus of those seriously injured.
All the money spend on building an infrastructure for the biggest religious event in the world could not prevent the unarguably manmade tragedy. Swami Yogi Aditiyanath may be good at provoking enmity between communities but clearly he has no organisation skills. An eyewitness speaking to us on the spot says that Prayag, where the holy dips take place, is in an utter mess with hotel accommodation in distant places, entailing long walks for the pilgrims, and the organizers charging huge amounts to anyone seeking a “VIP dip.”