At least 18 people were dead, and another 15 were injured in a stampede at New Delhi railway station on Saturday night as pilgrims waited to board trains to the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025. "18 people, including 14 women, lost their lives in the stampede that occurred yesterday around 10 pm at New Delhi Railway station on Saturday, February 15, a railway official reported. The Hindu reported on February 16 that the stampede was preceded by a swell in the crowd of passengers waiting to board trains for Prayagraj — where the Maha Kumbh is underway — on platforms 12 and 14 of the station.

The NDTV reported on February 16 that the incident took place on foot-overbridges connecting platforms 14 and 15 when some passengers slipped while descending, causing panic and a deadly crush. While some sources said delays in train departures and the sale of 1,500 general tickets every hour may have created a chaotic situation at the station, others indicated that the wrong announcement about the change of platforms may have created confusion that led to the stampede, PTI reported.

This stampede, coming after the major stampede in Maha Kumbh Mela on January 28, 2025, seems to have been forgotten, or no one seems to be bothered about it. Stampedes are not uncommon in this country. But what is alarming is that the frequency with which these stampedes are taking place is the cause of concern. Further, it is the common ordinary masses who are losing their lives. They are relegated to footnotes of reports, which are discussed and forgotten. Also, with the festival of Holi approaching, the migrant workers working in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, etc., begin to return home. Almost every year, mini-stampedes are created, which, once again, do not attract the media's attention, much less that of the politicians and the administration.

Hari Kumar and Anupreeta Das, writing in the New York Times on January 28, 2025, after the major stampede in Kumbh Mela, reported that, 'At Least 30 Dead and Many More Hurt in Stampede at Huge Hindu Festival in India.' People were trampled as pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh Mela, one of the world's biggest gatherings, gathered where the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers meet, officials said.

At least 30 people were killed, and dozens more were injured early Wednesday after millions of Hindu pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh Mela, a huge festival in the Indian city of Prayagraj or Allahabad, rushed to bathe in holy river waters on what is considered one of the most auspicious dates in the Hindu calendar.

As pilgrims rushed to the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers, which Hindus consider sacred, thousands of people who were lying or sitting on the river banks were trampled, safety barricades broke, and fences were pulled down, according to government officials and witnesses. Others were trying to escape after bathing, adding to the chaos. New York Times journalists reported that they saw people stretched out on the ground, their bodies and faces covered, and emergency personnel carrying people away on stretchers and into ambulances.

Government officials released casualty figures more than half a day after the stampede happened between 1 am and 2 am local time. Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, said on Wednesday evening that he would start a judicial inquiry to find out how, despite heavy precautions, accidents such as these could occur.

"They were inviting us here to die," said Ajay Singh, a farmer from the district of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh. "They invited devotees through media, channels, phones, newspapers," but mismanaged the event, Mr Singh said.

He had been sleeping on the river banks with his family when the police began pushing people out. Mr Singh's mother, aunt and uncle fell down, and they all suffered injuries on their backs and ribs. He said he saw around five dead bodies when he was trapped.

The Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, one of the world's biggest religious gatherings, occurs every 12 years. Hindus believe bathing at the spot where the two rivers meet, along with a third mythical river called Saraswati, will purge them of all sins and help them attain salvation. In itself, organising this religious bath and inviting the people to participate is not questioned. But using all the media to mobilise people to convert a religious function into political propaganda or one-up-manship among politicians has cost the lives of many poor and ordinary citizens of this country.

Many have repeatedly pointed out that the VIP culture blatantly exhibited in the Kumbh Mela has taken a huge toll on the faithful and the security forces. It was also observed that the VIP visits at Maha Kumbh 2025 are becoming a growing concern, with disruptions caused by heavy security sparking frustration among pilgrims. Writer and RSS affiliate Ratan Sharda questioned the fairness of frequent VIP movements on Tuesday.

Hema Malini, the BJP's MP from Mathura, was given special treatment as a VIP. While this is even tolerable, her comments on the stampede were deplorable, to say the least. She doubled down on the comment on Kumbh that had sparked a huge controversy. The actor-turned-politician, who earlier said that the stampede that killed 30 people was "not a very big incident," today insisted that the Maha Kumbh was a success despite that. One wonders, if she had lost a family member, would she make an irresponsible statement like this.

While the VIPs were given special treatment, the citizens of this country were left to fend for themselves. While these VIPs were protectively taken to bathe, the common masses were ordered to follow the rules and regulations which contradict the objectives of the snan (the bath). People come to Maha Kumbh to bathe to wash away their sins. But they are not allowed to take a dip themselves in those spots where people want to bathe. This everyday discriminatory treatment extends to these religious functions as well.

Umesh Kumar Ray, writing in The Wire on February 13, 2025, 'The Cost of Mismanaging the Kumbh: In Bihar, Stampede Survivors Say They Cannot Sleep', argues the price paid by the common masses is immeasurable. Narrating about the horrible experience of Rinku Devi, Umesh Ray reported that Rinku Devi and her mother-in-law, Siya Devi, were pushed by both crowds and fell on the ground. Many people fell on them. Others just ran. "There must have been 8-9 people on us," Rinku said. She felt that she would die, and she screamed for help. "The locals pulled me out. People were trampling the dead bodies and running away," she said. This flight embodies the trauma, fear, and uncertainty faced by those who were forcibly deported, leaving behind families, livelihoods, and dreams.

It also becomes clear that over-reliance on technology and overlooking human thought, need, and presence cost these most unfortunate people dearly. Government officials became much more organised and focused on the safety and security of pilgrims after the 2013 deaths. On paper, this year, the Uttar Pradesh government has employed more sophisticated technology to monitor the inflow and outflow of people so that police personnel can redirect crowds. But this did not happen on the ground.

Pathikrit Chakraborty, writing in the Times of India on January 30, 2025, commented that the crowd equalled "50% UP's population." He observed that over 12.5 crore visited the Kumbh Mela on the 28th and 29th of January for a holy dip, which is half the UP population. VIPs were ushered in through 'safe' and 'VIP cordoned' routes. The CM and the administration ordered the public to use a ghat closest to their entry route to take a holy dip and not crowd the Sangam Nose, which has limited space. Now, people realise that they are treated as second-class citizens even in that place where they had gone to attain nirvana or moksha.

The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has accused the Government of Uttar Pradesh of hiding the actual number of fatalities in the recent Maha Kumbh Stampede. "The Uttar Pradesh State unit of the PUCL found in its preliminary investigation that the Government of Uttar Pradesh have used several devices to hide the actual number of fatalities. Dead bodies were sent to two different postmortem centers and the place and date of their retrieval has been manipulated in some cases," said the PUCL in a statement. The statement added that at the Swaroop Rani Hospital, PUCL members saw photos of unidentified dead persons stuck in the register.

This shame and pain notwithstanding emanating from many stampedes, the country has to bear another shame of the Indians being deported from the US. While the Prime Minister of India was in the US, the so-called 'illegal migrants' or 'undocumented migrants' were deported. Vikas Vasudeva, writing in the Hindu on February 16, 2025, "Second batch of illegal migrants from US land in Amritsar: deportee says they were handcuffed, chained," stated that another batch of undocumented migrants would be landing in Amritsar on Sunday, February 16, 2025.

As per this report, among the 119 who landed on February 15 night, 100 are from Punjab and Haryana. While 67 are from Punjab, 33 are from Haryana, eight are from Gujarat, three are from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. A senior police official said those from Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra are being transported to their respective states via early morning flights.

Yashpal Singh from Patti, who claimed to have spent Rs 44 lakh to take the "donkey route" to the US, said, "We were not wearing turbans when we landed at the airport. They had removed our turbans before the flight." Vinay Kumar Hari, an immigration consultant based in Chandigarh, said, "It is high time the Punjab government arrested people behind this illegal immigration mafia. Ten days have passed since the first flight landed in Amritsar. They should start focusing on how to tackle this illegal migration, as they must have received enough tip-offs from the deportees. As per the figures from the US, 7.25 lakh Indians have applied for asylum in the US in the past 25 years. That means something. Governments need to work on how to stop this illegal migration."

In the first week of February 2025, the Migrant Hub learned that 4 Santhal labourers from the Kishanganj district in Bihar were cheated on the promise of finding work and visas to go to Gulf countries. These villagers were called from Bihar to Chandigarh to the agent's office at Sector 6 of Chandigarh and were asked to pay Rs 40,000 per person to process the visa. These gullible people paid the money, hoping that when they returned to their place, they would get a call saying their jobs, visas and tickets were ready. But after reaching home, when they called the agent back, all the mobile phones were switched off.

The Hindustan Times reported on November 16, 2024, "Indian family of four froze to death while trying to cross US-Canada border." The Gujarati family of four, while attempting to slip into the United States from Canada, froze to death amid the significant drop in temperature in the country. Jagdish Patel, his wife and their two young children were among a group of 11 Indians who were attempting to enter the US through a near-empty stretch of the Canadian border. These incidents are on the increase.

Dr BR Ambedkar's warning is more relevant today than in the past. On November 25, 1949, he spoke of the need to give up the grammar of anarchy, to avoid hero-worship, and to work towards a social, not just a political, democracy. Those who want to maintain democracy should not lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man or trust him with power which enables him to subvert their institutions. He pointed out that in politics, bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship. This downfall of Indians and India is moving in an irreparable phase and manner. Only a miracle of a sort can save this country.