As the sun lying on the pet,, The sacred meeting point of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers on Tuesday, there was a mood of jubilation on the banks. It was the day before one of the holy days of the Kumbh Mela festival – the largest religious gathering not only in India, but in the world – and millions of people had made long trips often arduous To immerse yourself in water.
“It seems that the whole country has come to pet To bathe, ”exclaimed Rubi Kumar, 43, was sandwiched with his devout colleagues on the shore. She had taken a 36 -hour train from her original state of the Bihar, then walked 25 miles to reach this place. Always dripping from her first holy dip, she widely radiated as she attached her sweet pink sari.
“It was so difficult to go here, but now I have the impression that all the pain and agony have disappeared,” said Kumar. “It’s one of the best days of my life.” She planned to take one more dive around 3 am the next morning – the most conducive period on Wednesday – then to return hundreds of kilometers.
The powerful belief among the Hindu devotees that come together that evening was that to be cleaned in the pet waters in the coming hours – a period known as the name Mauni Amavasya,, Mark a new moon – had to release their bodies from past sins and abandon the endless cycle of birth and death. Some were crying by entering the icy river, while others shouted in euphoria or whispered prayers as they dispersed flowers and poured cups of milk into holy waters.
The Kumbh Mela arrives once every 12 years in the city of Pradesh of the Uttar Pradesh, but this year was deemed particularly special because it was the “Maha” or the Grand Kumbh Mela, marking the 12th consecutive, which does not Coming only once every 144 years in the middle of a special alignment of the sun, the moon, Jupiter and Saturn. According to government’s own projections, 400 million people are expected to attend when it ends in February, the biggest crowd in its history.
Vipul Rajgor had had to be VIPUL, 45, and six members of his family 2 p.m. to cross the night of Gujarat to be here, but he was simply exceeded by experience. “Being alive and here for this day is the biggest gift in my life,” said Rajor.
Nearby, families sat in a colorful mass through the ground, passing the bratis and the cellar,, And the birds rushed to the small fishing boats leaving the faithful for a sweet evening river stroll. Gayatri Devi Kushwa, 30, said that the sacred water was freezing as she dived with her five -year -old son, Deepunshu, “but it was incredibly peaceful. I never wanted to go out.
However, in a few hours, these joyful scenes would turn into a fatal human crush. While the darkness fell on the vast makeshift camp on Tuesday evening, more and more faithful went to the festival site to bathe pet during Mauni Amavasya. People crushed in the square kilometer of land known as “pet nose ”, trying to reach the shore with growing despair.
By Nightfall, the messages were broadcast from speakers telling the faithful to take only two boxes – “a third dive is a sin” – then leave the area immediately. Police began to inaugurate seated families near the river to take their early Saint -early bath, then move on.
Many present on the scene said that what happened then was “inevitable”. It was after 1 a.m., while people flocked with several directions, that chaos and confusion took over and the bathers going to the river collided with those who return. The barriers erected by the police were pushed and people started to panic, trying to go out.
Those who are stuck in the inflated press of bodies described sudden overvoltages that pushed people on the ground, where they were trampled under thousands of feet, and many have been unable to get up. Families sitting on the ground, many of whom with sleeping young children, have been separated or crushed under the mounting mass. Baljeet Singh, whose woman, Mira, died after being drawn from her hand, told the Indian media: “There was no way to save us.”
Witnesses said the police seemed helpless to intervene or control the crowd. As the scene had been released more than an hour later by the police and the paramilitaries, dozens of bodies were scattered on the shore and the groans of the wounded could be heard alongside the Ring of the Sirens of Ambulance . The tragedy tragedy, including lost shoes and confused shawls, were dispersed through the sacred banks.
Uttar Pradesh police said almost 6 p.m. later that the crushing of the crowd had cost the lives of at least 30 faithful and wounded at least 60 others. But while dozens of families gathered desperately outside the hospital morgue in search of people lost in crushing, many wondered if the real number of deaths was higher.
The Kumbh Mela is considered by the Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party as a convincing symbol of Hindu unity and power that align perfectly with their Hindu nationalist political agenda, and the party has invested large resources to put Place and publish this year festival – attracting large number of pilgrims. The most visible face of the festival, radiating posters and cutouts every 200 meters like that of a high priest, was from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The Kumbh Mela has become a huge exercise in public relations for the government,” said Dinesh Giri, a high priest of one of the Hindu monastic sects known as the name Akharaswhich form the spiritual centerpiece of the festival. “The Hindus who have never come before come in large numbers because it is everywhere in the media and online. Everyone wants to come and take selfies at the Kumbh Mela. »»
On Wednesday, when the government of the State refused to officially confirm the number of people killed, they still published the time updates of visitors numbers taking a “royal decrease”, which, according to them, had reached 76 million at the end of the day.
The fears of another crowd meant that the local station was closed on Thursday morning. However, even under the cloud of the tragedy, the Kumbh Mela festivities continued without interruption. The next morning at petThe bathers continued to arrive imperturbable, although many families have remained attached with strings. “Nothing could prevent me from moving away,” said a 49 -year -old pilgrim, Muni Bhai, while diving underwater.
Additional reports by Aakash Hassan
