Regarding the January 29 stampede at Mahakumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said that the news about deaths was not flashed prominently to avoid panic.
He was speaking on the successful organisation of the recently concluded Mahakumbh with a team from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow and the India Post.
जिसने जिस रूप में महाकुम्भ-2025, प्रयागराज को देखा, उसको वही दर्शन हुए... pic.twitter.com/Fwdc7b1B2o
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) March 3, 2025
This is at variance with what the chief minister had said on January 29- the day of the Mauni Amavasya when a stampede left at least 30 people dead and 60 injured. On the said day, the CM had extolled people not to give any heed to rumours.
On January 29 evening, when the CM finally admitted that there had been some deaths, Shankracharya Avimukeshtwaranand Saraswati of Joshimath said that the CM was a ‘liar’.
महाकुम्भ-2025, प्रयागराज जो भी आया, अद्भुत संगम को देखकर अभिभूत हुआ... pic.twitter.com/ICLLpTxhxZ
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) March 3, 2025
The Shankaracharya had said that when the saints woke up in the morning, they heard about the stampede and decided not to go ahead with the Amrit snan. “However, the posts on X made by Yogi Adityanath were misleading. He first extended greetings on Mauni Amavasya and then posted that people should not pay heed to rumours and exercise self-restraint”, the Shankracharya had said.
Also read
He added that had the saints known about the deaths they would not have gone for the snan that day and instead prayed for the departed souls.
However, Yogi Adityanath said that he had, at 3 am on Mauni Amavasya requested the akharas not to go ahead with the amrit snan at the pre-decided time.
He also said that the order of snan for the akharas had earlier given rise to many arguments and fights and that this was absent this time.
“There were eight crore saints and devotees in Prayagraj…We did not want them to panic”, the CM said.
To ensure that such an incident was not repeated the government made further stringent preparations for the remainder of the ritual bathing dates, he said. He also said to nip any problems that could have been created by his monitoring of the Kumbh Nagar, he had ensured that he took rounds of the mela area only after 12 in the night.
