At Hathras Event, Women Rushed to Touch Bhole Baba, Collect Soil from Under His Feet. Then, Tragedy Struck

Excessive rush, high humidity, slippery ground, women devotees being stopped to let Bhole Baba’s convoy pass, and the desperation amongst women to touch the godman’s feet and collect soil from the ground on which he had walked — all this, coupled with mismanagement on the part of the organisers, seems to have led to the stampede in UP’s Hathras in which 121 people lost their lives on Tuesday.

Most of the dead are women who got trampled as the satsang of the self-styled godman finished and his convoy left the venue in Hathras. The organisers had tried to create a corridor from the venue to the main highway for the convoy of luxury cars to leave, and people had collected on both sides of the corridor. A large group of women, who were stopped by the Baba’s workers to let the convoy pass, wanted to collect soil from the ground on which the vehicles passed or just touch the Baba’s vehicle. This commotion led to the stampede, local officials on the ground say. The crowd was desperate to leave the venue and board the buses towards home, given the high humidity and suffocation. A detailed probe is underway with the state DGP and Chief Secretary camping at the spot.

The incident happened around 2pm and devotees had come from various districts and states, like Haryana. “There was total failure on the part of the organisers. Bhole Baba’s men stopped the crowd’s movement to let his convoy pass after the completion of the ‘satsang’. A rush built up on both sides of the convoy corridor and led to the stampede. The crowd was also eager to return quickly by buses once the ‘satsang’ got over. The humidity was high and the ground was also slippery and uneven due to rains. All of this combined with the mismanagement of the huge crowd by the organisers has prima-facie led to the tragedy,” a senior official told News18.

The role of the local authorities, including the aspect of inadequate deployment of police, is also being looked into during the probe. Many women ran behind the Baba’s car to catch a glimpse of him or just touch the car, leading to further commotion, local inputs reveal. The local Intelligence unit was also unable to gauge the huge rush at the venue, much beyond the permissible limit fixed by the administration. Hospitals struggled amidst the huge rush of injured who were brought in after the stampede. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has promised to take strict action against all those responsible for negligence at the venue.