The stampede that broke out in Mathura’s Banke Bihari temple, leaving two dead, is a management failure long in the making. The management of devotees inside the temple is the exclusive preserve of the Goswamis—the traditional priests and managers of the temple. These are descendants of Swami Haridas who discovered the image of the Lord where the temple exists today.
Whenever the administration has tried to interfere for better management and maintenance of the temple it has met with backlash.
An October 2011 petition before the High Court of Allahabad recalled a scheme made by the munsif court of Mathura ‘..to provide suitable arrangement for the convenience of worshipers and pilgrims visiting the temple for worship.’ The need for this scheme arose because no police personnel are permitted within the temple precincts and thus skilled crowd management is a challenge.
The temple, which, by some estimates gets more than Rs 10 crores in donations every year, receives universally poor reviews for the inconvenience caused to devotees.
One traveller, writing of his experience from July 2017, left this review on a website. “Temple is on narrow lanes (6 feet) with small shops on either side. Temple opens in specific times like in evening its opening time is 5.30pm. Rush is more at temple opening times. Many gates to enter and exit, fully crowded, so members can get lost specially elders and children. Even announcement can't be heard as so much noise. The lanes are not one way, so this leads to a stampede-like situation. The sight of Banke Bihari temple is divine, but, management must improve the crowd management.”
Another visitor had this to say: “Very bad experience…There was no rule of law. Everything was mismanaged by Pujari. One aged main pujari sitting on chair on podium with a stick was threatening devotees of police action. Another young pujari with beard in white dress was abusing devotees. Chances of stampede are very much during rush hours.”
In December 2017, the Banke Bihari temple management had also refused a request by the district administration to increase the darshan timings by two hours each in the morning and the evening to cater to the rush of devotees. The temple management panel had said that it could not tamper with a 150-year-old tradition just to cater to the convenience of the public.
On October 2020, when the temple was thrown open for devotees after seven months of closure forced by the Covid-19 pandemic, the rush of crowds had thrown all management into chaos. After that the temple was closed to devotees again and only seers, essential workers and members of the managing committee were allowed in. In January, a civil judge had suggested to the temple committee that two gates be reserved for entry and two exclusively for exit with police personnel manning these at all times.
On Friday night, a huge crowd of devotees was present at the Banke Bihari temple to celebrate Janmashthami- the birthday of Lord Krishna. The temple holds a special place in Hinduism as Mathura is considered the birthplace of the god. By some estimates over a lakh people had congregated at the temple, leading to the tragedy.
