‘May Maa Ganga bless all with peace, wisdom, good health and harmony,’ prime minister writes on X; Opposition leaders say 1,500 people missing after stampede
PRAYAGRAJ — Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Prayagraj on Wednesday and took a dip in the Sangam even as the Opposition highlighted how many people were still searching for their loved ones a week after dozens of people died in at least one stampede at Mahakumbh, billed as the largest gathering of its kind in the world.
Accompanied by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the prime minister also took a boat ride from Arail Ghat to the Triveni Sangam, the confluence of holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, reported PTI and Telegraph India.
“Blessed to be at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj. The Snan at the Sangam is a moment of divine connection, and like the crores of others who have taken part in it, I was also filled with a spirit of devotion. May Maa Ganga bless all with peace, wisdom, good health and harmony,” PM Modi wrote on X.
Meanwhile, families of stampede victims are still coming to terms with the loss of their kin. Family members of many people missing after the mishap are still searching helter skelter, with many appeals making their way to social media.
Having received no information from the lost and found centres, many of them have now turned to the mortuary in search of any detail that can lead them to their missing relatives.
A majority of those still unaccounted for are women. One of them is Phooli Nishad from Dheha Dera village in Hamirpur, has been missing since the day of Mauni Amavasya. Her son Rajesh Nishad, who works in Ahmedabad, told PTI: “My mother got separated from the family at the mela and we have had no contact with her since.”
Similarly, Shakuntala Devi, who had arrived at the Mahakumbh from Gwalior with a group of 15 devotees, is among the missing.
“We have had no contact with my aunt since the incident. She has an identity card around her neck. Her phone is unreachable and she has not contacted anyone. We don’t know what to do,” her nephew Jitendra Sahu told PTI.
A united Opposition disrupted both Houses of Parliament during the Budget session on February 3, demanding an immediate discussion on the January 29 Mahakumbh stampede that claimed the lives of 30 people according to official data.
On Tuesday, Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav claimed that 1,500 people have reported their family members missing since the incident and that the government was not providing any information.
Addressing a rally in Milkipur assembly constituency in Ayodhya which will see bypoll on February 5, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said the government has been releasing daily figures of the number of people who take a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam but has not yet released the list of casualties.
The Mahakumbh will continue until Mahashivratri on February 26. Many politicians including Union home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh have visited the grand festival.
Global figures, such as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’s former wife Laurene Powell Jobs, Coldplay singer Chris Martin and Hollywood actor Dakota Johnson, have also visited Mahakumbh and most television channels – seen as beholden to the Modi government – have mostly highlighted praise from visitors about the arrangements at the Mahakumbh.
