Rahul Gandhi to visit Hathras stampede site, interact with victims
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit the stampede site in Hathras and interact with the people who have been affected, party general secretary KC Venugopal said. The stampede occurred on Tuesday during a satsang conducted by self-styled godman Narayan Sakar Hari, or Bhole Baba. As many as 121 people were killed and over 35 people were injured in the incident, which has become an eyesore for the Yogi Adityanath government for its failure to prevent the incident.
Inquiry commission formed
On Wednesday, the Uttar Pradesh government announced that a three-member judicial inquiry commission, headed by retired judge of the Allahabad High Court Brijesh Kumar Srivastav, will probe the stampede incident. However, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha said the panel was just an "eyewash" and questioned its effectiveness. He expressed doubts about any meaningful discussions taking place after two days and questioned whether the local administration was aware of the crowd size.
FIR lodged against event organizers
An FIR has been lodged against Devprakash Madhukar, also known as "Mukhya Sewadar," and other organizers of the event. However, Baba has not been named in the FIR and is currently untraceable. The FIR also states that the satsang was attended by approximately 2.5 lakh followers, in contrast to the organizers' claim that the attendance would be 80,000.
Similar disregard of rules in 2022
The stampede, police say, broke out when the godman was leaving and his followers rushed to collect dust thrown up by his vehicle. Eyewitnesses reported that Baba's private army (sevadaars) blocked the exit to let him leave first, contributing to the chaos. In May 2022 too, Hari had conducted a satsang in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which drew more than 50,000 attendees, despite the fact that regulations permitted only 50 attendees.
