Maha Kumbh Stampede: What Went Wrong & Who is to Blame?

The stampede killed at least 30 people, left scores injured, and raised many difficult questions.

Belongings of devotees seen lying at the Sangam following a stampede on Mauni Amavasya, during the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj, Wednesday, 29 January, 2025.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

For Rajasthan's Ranveer Singh, who arrived at Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on 19 January, the holy 'snan' at the Maha Kumbh Mela had been nothing short of a series of battles.

It began with mortgaging his cow to raise sufficient funds for bringing his aging mother, wife Urmila, and a six-year-old child from Bikaner to Prayagraj. Upon arriving at the site, he was greeted by a sea of floating heads, some with turbans, some without, many in ‘ghunghat’. He was instantly swallowed up by the crowd, which collectively decided where he had to go, and bore him along.

It was already chaotic and overcrowded when he arrived at the snan site at midnight on Mauni Amavasya. The pushing and shoving stopped briefly, only to resume within two hours as the break of dawn drew closer.

Family members of victims mourns outside the mortuary of Moti Lal Nehru Medical College following a stampede on Mauni Amavasya, during the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Thursday, 30 January, 2025.

(Photo: PTI)

“I don’t know how I managed to hold on to my mother. My wife and son were lost in the crowd. I found them five hours later."

Ranveer Singh

"We could not do the ‘snan’. We will do it tomorrow,” he said.

Though disappointed, Ranveer felt lucky at having survived the calamity that struck on 29 January, when all hell broke loose for millions of devotees who had converged on the banks of the Ganges and the Yamuna, seeking a path to heaven. The predawn stampede killed at least 30 people, according to official figures, left scores injured, and raised many difficult questions.

What Went Wrong at Kumbh?

The stampede started in the wee hours of Mauni Amavasya when a crowd of millions, including sadhus and devotees, had gathered near the rivers for the 'Shahi Snan'. The chaos seemingly began after a crowd spilled out of a police cordon – and allegedly trampled bystanders.

While the official toll has stuck to 30, locals, eyewitnesses, and bystanders at Kumbh claim the toll may well be over 100. At least 60 people were injured.

With news of the stampede spreading, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to social media to express his condolences saying, "The accident that happened in Prayagraj Maha Kumbh is extremely sad. My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones in this. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured."

Belongings of devotees seen lying at the Sangam following a stampede on Mauni Amavasya, during the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj, Wednesday, 29 January, 2025.

(Photo: PTI)

Questions, nevertheless, remain, leaving the party red faced. How did months of preparatory work on a colossal budget of Rs 7,000 crore, and special assurances from UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, go wrong?

The UP government has put the blame on the devotees. “This incident happened because of the massive crowd breaking the barricades and crossing the line... around 30 people have died, 36 injured are undergoing treatment in Prayagraj while the remaining injured have been taken away by their family members,” Adityanath said.

Experienced social workers who have witnessed similar Kumbh events in the past said the pathways for dispersing crowds were few and far between – and the barriers meant to keep crowds in check were inadequate.

“If you put barriers on wrong locations and close most of the roads, a stampede is bound to happen,” Heramb Chaturvedi, an academic and author of a book on the history of the Kumbh, told The Quint.

Devotees search for their missing family members following a stampede on Mauni Amavasya, during the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, outside the mortuary of Moti Lal Nehru Medical College in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Thursday, 30 January.

(Photo: PTI)

Chaturvedi said the government constructed 31 pontoon bridges over the rivers and allowed pilgrims to use only four or five of them. The rest were reserved for VIPs and government services like the movement of police, ambulance, and fire brigade.

“This accident could have been avoided. The government depended on officials with no knowledge of the local geography. It abandoned the tradition of obtaining the support of civil defence, home guard, National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets, and volunteers of social organisations who know every inch of the locality,” he said.

Following the stampede, the government has now cancelled VVIP passes for Kumbh – and imposed a ban on the entry of four-wheelers in Prayagraj till 4 February.

Army Taking Over?

The tragedy has triggered a debate over whether the Kumbh management should now be entrusted to the army. This is a complex issue as bringing in the army would further hamper the reputation of the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in UP, which has been boasting about attracting crores of people to Prayagraj on all mela days, including eight crore devotees on 29 January.

Many at Kumbh felt that while hosting high-profile VIP guests like Coldplay singer Chris Martin, Hollywood actress Dakota Johnson, billionaires Laurene Powell Jobs and Gautam Adani, and others, the administration seemingly failed to build barriers strong enough to keep the surging crowds in check.

Among religious sect leaders, too, there are rumours that the administration and security of Kumbh, which will continue till 26 February, will be handed over to the army as the state administration’s capabilities have been exposed.

A family member of a victim reacts following a stampede at the Sangam area on Mauni Amavasya, during the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj, Wednesday, 29 January, 2025.

(Photo: PTI)

It appears that some sect leaders and heads of akharas of sadhus had expressed apprehension in advance and had advised the state administration to seek the army’s help.

“All the akharas had asked that the Kumbh should be handed over to the Indian Army to be managed. Had the army been in charge, I don’t think this big a tragedy would have happened. I am very, very sad,” Mahamandleshwar Premanand Puri, one of the sect heads, told the media.

Puri said the administration was more focused on catering to the VIPs than worrying about the safety of ordinary pilgrims. “We have received a message from the Prime Minister that the Kumbh is being handed over to the army,” the seer who belongs to Niranjani Akhara said.

Meanwhile, CM Adityanath has ordered a probe by a three-member judicial commission led by Justice Harsh Kumar, with former DG VK Gupta and retired IAS DK Singh as members. No dates have been announced for the completion of the investigation.

“The Chief Minister has tried to cover up the incident by establishing a judicial commission without consulting the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court,” Sunil Shukla, a Prayagraj-based journalist, said.

“This tragedy would seriously damage the reputation of Adityanath, who tried to use the Kumbh Mela to enhance his personal image.”

Kumbh Politics

The incident has led to a political slugfest for the BJP with opposition leaders targeting the party for lapses.

The Congress' Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, took potshots at the Adityanath government, while Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav asked the government to hand over the management of the Kumbh to the army.

“Mismanagement and the administration's special focus on VIP movement instead of common devotees are responsible for this tragic incident,” he said.

Several sadhus have also expressed dissatisfaction with having to abandon the tradition of being the first to take a dip at the confluence of three rivers, the Ganges, Yamuna and, the Saraswati during the “Brahma muhurta” between 5:30 am and 6:30 am on the holy day of Mauni Amavasya due to the chaos on Wednesday.

Injured victims being carried for medical help following a stampede at the Sangam area on Mauni Amavasya, during the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj, Wednesday, 29 January, 2025.

(Photo: The Quint)

Anxious to save face among its core support base of sadhus and Hindutva followers, the BJP leaders spent some tense hours after Mahant Ravindra Puri, head of the Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad, the federal body of 13 akharas of sadhus, declared that the ascetics would not take the holy dip on Wednesday due to “overcrowding”.

There was a sense that the sadhus had boycotted the "world's largest religious event", which could further dampen the BJP and Adityanath's pro-Hindutva image.

It took much persuasion by the CM and other party leaders before they eventually agreed to head to the rivers at around 2 pm.

Not The First Kumbh Tragedy

The tragedy came about 10 days after a major fire broke out at the site of the Gita Press in the Kumbh grounds on 19 January. No one was injured in the fire, believed to have been caused by a leaked gas cylinder, which destroyed six tents and 40 cottages.

Past Kumbh events have also seen major stampede-related tragedies, including the biggest one that killed 300 people at Prayagraj in 1954. The next major tragedy was at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar when 200 people were killed in 1986.

Another Kumbh on the banks of Godavari in Maharashtra's Nashik claimed 39 lives in 2003. A footbridge collapsed, killing 42 people at the Allahabad (now Prayagraj) railway station during the Kumbh Mela in 2013.

It is surprising that administrators have not learned from a series of stampedes and continue to make mistakes in crowd management.

Political leaders are to blame for indulging in overpromotion to attract large crowds.

“The government has been boasting that more than 40 crore people would visit the Kumbh Mela. If you knew such huge crowds would come, why didn’t you make proper arrangements?” Mahamandleshwar Premanand Puri said.

(Saibal Dasgupta has been a foreign correspondent for 18 years and has authored Running with the Dragon: How India Should Do Business with China. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)