UP govt’s ‘Mismanagement’, ‘VIP culture’ led to stampede: Opposition
text_fieldsNew Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi urged the Central and Yogi Adityanath administration to ensure better arrangements for ‘common devotees’at Maha Kumbh while linking stampede at Prayagraj to organisers’ ‘mismanagement’ and ‘VIP culture’, The Indian Express reported.
A stampede at the Sangam nose on the second Amrit Snan during the festival of Mauni Amavasya on Wednesday morning is believed to have led to several deaths and injuries, according reports.
Opposition leaders called out both the Centre and the state administration with Rahul Gandhi blaming what he said ‘ VIP culture’, while urging the administration to ‘make better arrangements to meet the needs of common devotees’.
‘I express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and hope for the speedy recovery of the injured,’ Gandhi was quoted as saying.
The Congress leader posted on social media that the administration’s focus on VIP movement alongside its mismanagement is responsible for the tragic incident.
Appealing his party’s workers to help the affected families, Rahul Gandhi asked the government to improve the system to prevent such tragic incident as there is ‘still a lot of time left for the Maha Kumbh, many more Mahasnans are to take place’.
‘VIP culture should be curbed and the government should make better arrangements to meet the needs of common devotees,’ he reportedly said.
Expressing sadness over the incident, Samajwadi Party chief and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav asked the statement government to transport seriously injured people to best hospitals with the help of air ambulance.
He wrote on social media platform X: ‘Arrangements should be made to identify the bodies of the deceased and hand them over to their relatives and send them to their place of residence.’
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the incident was ‘extremely heart-rending’ and blamed it on ‘VIP movement’, ‘half-baked arrangements’ alongside what he said ‘attention to self-promotion than management and mismanagement’.
The CPI(M) stated that the incident pointed to the mismanagement of the Yogi Adityanath administration, adding ‘We express our condolences to the bereaved families’.