‘What has to happen will happen’: Bhole Baba on 121 stampede deaths
121 people died in a stampede at a congregation in Uttar Pradesh, with the self-styled godman blaming a "conspiracy". Authorities are investigating.
“What has to happen will happen and one who has come into the world will eventually leave” – these were words of wisdom from Suraj Pal, also known as Bhole Baba, weeks after 121 people died in a stampede at his congregation in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, as the self-styled godman on Wednesday sought to absolve himself of responsibility and instead turned the blame on a “conspiracy” and “a poisonous spray”.
Speaking to mediapeople from his ashram in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh, Pal said he was “extremely sad” after the July 2 accident, but seemed to show little remorse, as he said “the truth will come out”.
“Our advocate Dr AP Singh and eyewitnesses have told us about a poisonous spray. It is true that there is some conspiracy. We have faith in the SIT (special investigation team) and judicial commission and that the truth will come out...Right now, I am in my birthplace Bahadur Nagar, Kasganj,”he told news agencies ANI and IANS in two separate statements, shrugging off any role him or his organisation may have played in the chaos.
In a previous video statement on July 6, Pal said people “must keep faith in the government”, and also alluded to a conspiracy.
“I have faith that those who created the chaos will not be spared,” he had said.
The police have so far arrested Devprakash Madhukar, the prime suspect and head volunteer of the event and a judicial panel put in place by the state government has kicked off its probe into the accident, which triggered uproar across the country and exposed a raft of administrative failures. To be sure, police have not named Pal, also known as Narayan Sakar Hari, as one of the suspects in its FIR.
The SIT in its report to the state government on July 9 did not rule out a “big conspiracy” behind the stampede and flagged lapses by the local administration.
It held the organisers responsible for the incident, claiming they did not make arrangements to manage the crowd and also fixed the responsibility of administration, according to official sources.
Around 250,000 people attended the July 2 event, said local officials, survivors and residents.
The stampede occurred minutes after the programme ended. As Pal began to leave the venue around 1.40pm, a large mass of devotees started to run towards his convoy, to gather dust from the ground he had touched (a practice they call “Raj”). However, the preacher’s guards stopped people as they rushed toward him, with dozens falling over each other at this point on the sloping ground.
The tragedy was worsened by a string of other factors -- the wet ground turned the field into a muddy trap, humid weather caused many to faint during the melee, and only two medical facilities with limited resources were available to tend to what was a sudden flood of people who had been crushed in the crowd.
The accident underlined a string of lapses by the organisers and officials, with the “satsang” crammed well beyond the allotted permission of 80,000, as the absence of properly defined exits or barricading compounded the scale of the chaos.