The Maha Kumbh Mela came to a conclusion in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on February 26. According to government data, a whopping 66 crore people took part in the 45-day religious gathering. The fanfare and brouhaha over the Mela recognized by the UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage was, however, somewhat marred by two unfortunate incidents of stampede, one on the Mela premises in Prayagraj and one at New Delhi rail station, that claimed at least 48 lives. What was perhaps equally unfortunate was how in the initial hours after the stampedes, the entire government machinery -- from local officials to functionaries at the top-most level -- tried to simply deny them, pass them off as rumours and/or simply lied that no such mishap had taken place.
The media, parroting government propaganda as it so often does, helped officials avoid basic questions such as the nature of the mishaps and the toll or the whereabouts of the injured. At a time when thousands, nay, lakhs of common citizens of the country must have been worried about their relatives visiting the Kumbh and were looking for some clear answers, the mainstream media's callousness enabled the government to obfuscate the facts and mislead people for hours.
Yes, No, May be: The February 15 Stampede at New Delhi Station
At least 18 people died and 15 were injured in a stampede at New Delhi railway station on February 15 around 9:30 pm. Initially, an attempt was made to term the incident a rumour, just as in the case of the stampede in Prayagraj on January 29 on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, in which at least 30 lives had been lost.
A report by Dainik Bhaskar, which describes the scene immediately after the stampede at the New Delhi railway station, talks about dead bodies strewn around on the platform. However, for hours after the incident, officials repeatedly stated that the situation was normal. News of the stampede was also termed a rumour.
At 10:48 am, that is more than an hour after the stampede, news agency ANI quoted the Delhi Fire Service and reported that there was a stampede-like situation at the railway station, with four fire tenders on their way to the scene.
Journalist Sachin Gupta shared a video at 10:56 pm and tweeted that many passengers were reported to have fainted due to the chaos in the crowd.
However, at 11:16 am, the CPRO of Northern Railways stated that there was no stampede. Furthermore, scenes outside the railway station were shared in order to give concrete proof of this. It is worth noting that ANI tweeted the CPRO's statement and later deleted this tweet.
About half an hour later, Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena shared a tweet at 11:55 pm expressing his deepest condolences to the families of those who died in the stampede at the New Delhi railway station. However, just half an hour later, at 12:24 am, he edited his tweet and wrote, 'There has been an unfortunate and tragic loss of lives and injuries due to disorder and stampede at New Delhi Railway Station. Have spoken to the Chief Secretary and Police Commissioner and asked them to address and redress the situation.'
He removed the mention of deaths and condolences from his tweet. Below are the two versions of his tweet:
Between Saxena's tweet and the time it was edited, i.e., at 12:05 am, ANI shared a video of DCP Railway K P S Malhotra. It was reported that two trains were running late due to which a huge crowd of passengers gathered. The crowd was so huge that some people got injured but the situation was under control now.
At 12:53 am, Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav tweeted about the incident for the second time, in neither of his tweets, he mentioned anything about casualty. His first tweet, at 11:36 pm, said that the situation was under control and the injured had been taken to the hospital. The second tweet, that quoted the first one, only said that a high-level inquiry had been ordered. The Union railway minister would eventually use the word 'stampede' and 'death' of people, but only after PM Modi's tweet.
Just a minute after Ashwini Vaishnav's post, at 12:54 am, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted a video trying to show that everything was normal at New Delhi station.
PM Narendra Modi tweeted at 12:56 am, expressing grief over the stampede and offering condolences to the families of the victims. Only then did news agency ANI admit that there were deaths. Before this, ANI kept trying to portray that there was no stampede. This is in spite of the fact that Union defence minister Rajnath Singh had expressed condolences at 12:16 am, much before PM Modi's message.
Much later, at 1:09 am, the Union railway minister found the opportune moment to express grief to those who died, or in other words, to accept that people had died in the stampede. Immediately after the stampede, pictures of dead bodies were available online. However, every effort was made to hide them. Even news agency ANI fully supported the government's stance, whereas the job of the media is to bring out the truth. In this case, the media, particularly ANI, worked tirelessly to be the government's voice.
Stampede, No Stampede, Stampede-like: Prayagraj Deaths on January 29
January 29 marked the day of Mauni Amavasya, considered a holy date in the Hindu calendar. There was a huge crowd of people at Prayagraj seeking to take a dip at the Triveni Sangam. Around 2 am, a stampede broke out near Sangam Noj in which numerous people lost their lives and many were injured.
Though the Prime Minister and the President expressed their condolences, the Uttar Pradesh government refused to admitted the exact death toll till late evening. Besides, the incident was repeatedly termed a rumour and when questions were asked about the number of deaths, the situation was played down as nothing serious. There was a clear effort on the part of the government to suppress information about the mishap.
In such incidents, what usually happens is that the number of deaths or people injured increases gradually, as in the event of an earthquake, a landslide, or a stampede. Initially, casualty figures come in from local sources. Then, when the administration establishes some control over the situation, the final figures are released. However, this was not the case with the Prayagraj stampede. This tragic accident was repeatedly underplayed as a rumour. Not only did the media not show what exactly happened, they even hesitated to use the word stampede, in stead terming it a 'stampede-like situation' throughout the day.
Alt News discovered that one of the earliest tweets in this regard was shared by a person named Mayur Mitkari at 2:19 am on January 29, in which he said that there was a stampede in the Maha Kumbh in which many people were injured. In the pictures tweeted by this user, it can be seen that many people are lying unconscious on the ground with police personnel present at the site. It is clear from this image that the administration had first-hand knowledge about the situation as early as 2.19 am.
Journalist Sachin Gupta tweeted a video at 2:49 am and informed that there was some chaos at the Sangam at the Maha Kumbh, and many ambulances had reached Central Hospital. Dainik Jagran journalist Bhaskar Singh tweeted at 3:03 am that many people had died in the stampede at the Maha Kumbh. Journalist Anuj Mishra tweeted a video at 3:10 am and informed that a stampede broke out at the Kumbh Mela around 1 am, in which about 50 people were injured.
Initially, police officials denied that anyone had died in the stampede. At 4:53 am, Maha kumbh's special executive officer Akanksha Rana told the media that a stampede-like situation unfolded after some barriers had been broken by devotees. He added that some people were injured and were being treated. Rana told the media that the situation was not serious.
Following this, the mainstream media also took this claim forward and called the stampede a rumour, and instead of directly mentioning the stampede, the phrase 'stampede-like situation' began doing the rounds. We have provided some screenshots below which show that the same phrase was being used continuously by major media outlets. Many of these media houses had reporters present at the Kumbh Mela, but still, they thought it appropriate to report the government's version of events served to them by officials, instead of trying to find the truth on the ground.
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At 8 am on January 29, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted that bathing was taking place peacefully at all the ghats of Sangam and urged the public to not believe in rumours. After this, the UP chief minister also tweeted a video and said that some devotees were seriously injured. Even here, he did not admit that people had died, and appealed to people not to pay attention to rumours.
At 11:47 am, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted and offered his condolences to the family of the devotees who had lost their lives in the Maha Kumbh mishap.
However, at 12:05 pm, Kumbh Mela SSP Rajesh Dwivedi told the media that no stampede had taken place, and some devotees were injured due to the large crowd that had gathered there. He also stated that people should not pay attention to any rumours.
Minutes after this, President Draupadi Murmu also tweeted at 12:23 pm and expressed her condolences to the kin of the victims.
At 4:11 pm, DIG Mahakumbh Vaibhav Krishna issued a statement saying that the people injured in the stampede were being treated and no one was in a serious condition, with everyone out of danger. Shortly after this, at 6:39 pm, he issued a second statement admitting that 30 people died in the stampede in Mahakumbh at around 2 am on February 29.
At 7:54 pm, Yogi Adityanath released a video admitting that the death toll was 30 and about 90 people were injured.
In a BBC report on February 4, Bhagwania Devi, a resident of Bihar, said, "After getting stuck in the stampede, we lost consciousness. When we regained consciousness, we heard an officer saying, 'She is dead, throw her in the Ganga'. Meanwhile, another woman scolded him asking if he didn't have a mother or sister. The same woman poured water on my face and then I regained consciousness."
A report in Dainik Bhaskar said that 35 to 40 people had died. However, it is also mentioned that the administration has confirmed only 30 deaths.
Yogi Adityanath gave a speech in the UP assembly on February 19 on the stampede on Mauni Amavasya. He mentioned two figures while talking about the death toll. According to him, 30 devotees had died on the banks of Sangam and 7 at other places. He said that a total of 66 devotees had been injured at the Sangam site, of which 30 died and 36 devotees were admitted to the local medical college. Shortly after this, Adityanath said, "Pressure points were created at different places in Prayagraj and some other places. Several people got injured, about 30 to 35 in other places. They were also taken to the hospital. Among them, seven people died while being taken to the hospital or in the hospital."
To sum up, according to the Yogi government, 37 lives were lost on the day of Mauni Amavasya. But even several hours after the accident, an all-out attempt was made to obfuscate information and create confusion by calling it a rumour. This was done because the narrative was not in favour of the government. The unfortunate part of the story is that the media fully supported the government's efforts.
The job of the media is not to be the spokesperson of the government but to question its narrative and hold the government accountable by placing the truth before the public. All this is a far cry from the Indian mainstream media, which did not even reach the scene to do a ground report even though almost every outlet had its presence in Prayagraj to cover the Kumbh Mela. Almost every major outlet dished out daily updates on the number of people taking a dip. The same outlets took almost 17 hours to publish the stampede toll, that too, only the government version. Before hat, most of them even avoided using the word 'stampede'. And it is worth keeping in mind that neither of these unfortunate incidents occurred in a remote area. One unfolded at the main railway station at the national capital, and the other at the Kumbh Mela site where all major national media houses had been camping for close to a month.
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