West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that the Maha Kumbh has turned into a "Mrityu Kumbh" due to incidents of stampede, claiming that the actual toll at the mega religious gathering was suppressed by authorities.
At least 30 people died and 60 were injured in a stampede in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj last month, while 18 people lost their lives in a recent stampede at an overcrowded New Delhi railway station.
I will not call it a Maha Kumbh. It has now become a mrityu kumbh. It is like a death pit. I respect the Maha Kumbh, I respect Ganga Maa. However, there was no planning for the event. 30 people have died; how many dead bodies were immersed in the river? Thousands have died. Fire has broken out 8 times, too. They have hidden hundreds of bodies to bring down the toll, Banerjee said during an address in the state assembly.
Banerjee termed the stampede at the Maha Kumbh deeply heartbreaking , and stressed the need for better planning and management at large religious gatherings to ensure public safety.
The tragic loss of lives in such incidents highlights the importance of careful planning, especially when it comes to the safety of citizens, she said.
The chief minister also criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for creating a hype around the Maha Kumbh without making proper arrangements.
So many people died in the Maha Kumbh (stampede) incident, but they are not releasing the correct death toll. They created such a hype about the event, and yet there were no proper arrangements at the venue, she said.
Banerjee went on to highlight the plight of Bengal residents who died in the stampede, alleging that their bodies were sent back without proper documentation, making it difficult for families to receive compensation.
We conducted post-mortems to ensure that their families get the death certificates, she said.
The chief minister also slammed the VIP culture at the Maha Kumbh.
While I avoided the holy dip to prevent inconvenience to common people during the Gangasagar Mela, this event saw special treatment for VIPs, Banerjee noted.
Lakhs have been spent on camps for the rich and the VIPs. However, the poor are being charged Rs 2,000 for sitting on mats after standing in long queues for over 15-20 hours. A cup of tea is being charged Rs 500 to Rs 2,000. The place allocated for people to take holy dip is different from the one for the VIPs. They have polluted and poisoned the holy place of the Maha Kumbh, she alleged.
Banerjee also pointed out that despite the stampede incident, no investigation committee has been set up by the Uttar Pradesh government, unlike in Bengal, where probe panels are constituted following such tragedies.
The BJP legislators, who had boycotted the House proceedings for the day as a mark of protest the against suspension of four MLAs including Suvendu Adhikari, termed Banerjee as a Hindu virodhi mukhyamantri (anti-Hindu chief minister), and said that the insult to the Maha Kumbh would not be tolerated by the people of India.
"We condemn such remarks. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is anti-Hindu. She is only interested in appeasement politics and that is why she can make such remarks against the holy Maha Kumbh," BJP chief whip Shankar Ghosh said.
Senior BJP leader and the party's co-incharge Amit Malviya said Banerjee's comments are indicative of her nervousness ahead of the 2026 Bengal assembly polls.
Mamata Banerjee's uncalled-for attack on the Maha Kumbh is the first sign of her imminent defeat in 2026. She is extremely nervous after Arvind Kejriwal's complete decimation in Delhi. Last time, like Kejriwal, she lost her election from Nandigram. This time, she fears the worst, he posted on X.
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