Fatal devotion of the poor

The number of people being killed in our country due to stampedes at religious congregations is quite disturbing. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the respective tolls from stampede-related accidents were 489 and 70 in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The number of accidents vary every year and the NCRB uses this variation as up and down trend of a particular crime. But unnatural killings due to stampede is a trend in our society, particularly in our political administrative system. Recently, on August 25, in an accident due to a stampede at a religious place in Madhya Pradesh. at least 10 people were killed and many were injured. The devotees had gathered at Kamadgiri hill on the occasion of Somvati Amavasya, a new moon event to honour Lord Shiva.

On February 25, 2009, the then Union home minister had revealed in Parliament, that there had been as many as 686 deaths due to stampedes at religious places during the previous four years. During the two subsequent years another 317 people lost their lives in similar events, taking the total to 773. Apart from religious places, the incidents of stampedes have also been occurring at railway stations and at the time of recruitments by the army and the police. For example, incidents of stampede took place on October 30, 2007, at Mughal Sarai and Delhi Railway Stations. An accident had occurred in 2005 in Tamil Nadu at a camp of people who had been severely affected by natural disasters.

But it is undisputed that almost 95 per cent of such deaths occur during various celebrations at Hindu religious places. A study of the background of unnatural deaths indicates that the most affected are the weak and the infirm. Also, the majority of victims are women and children.

Do these stampedes have any logic behind them? After the stampede at Hardwar on November 8, 2011, a newspaper reader Rajveer Singh Rathor sent his reactions to the Hindi daily Jansatta and pointed out the likely causes of stampedes. He ascribed the stampede to the choking caused by the smoke generated by burning of wood, ghee and other eatables. This ritual was being conducted by the Shanti Kunj Gayatri Peeth. We may also look at two more similar incidents. Around 300 people and around 100 lost their lives in two different incidents at the Mandra Devi Temple. The official version was that a woman devotee had been carrying a head load of the wherewithal for the formalities. She slipped and the oil leaked. The land has already become slippery with coconut water. One pilgrim slipped and fell upon another and the chain of such falling down led to the loss of so many lives. In August-September 2003 during the Kumbh Mela at Nasik, 118 people had succumbed to a similar stampede. The official version was that the sadhus and mahants led the processions on elephants and cars. The riders were showering prasad and also money from their high perches. These worthies did not feel it necessary to obtain clearance for such processions. In many such incidents the number of casualties had been more than those resulting from industrial disasters. 

We have to consider whether such stampedes are a part and parcel of religious ceremonies. It is disturbing to note that of late the tempo of such incidents has increased. These can be viewed as managerial deficiencies and so they do not confront us as a problem. The Centre washes its hands of by saying that law-and-order is a state subject. In 2008, the Centre had advised the states to allow only as many persons at religious places as they can manage and control. Last time this advice had been given to the Odisha government in July 2010 on the eve of the Jagannath Rath Yatra. There are many more such instances, which are nothing but mere formalities. In states, the regional governments start the process of investigations after the incident and then give up by saying that these are due to the vagaries of fate and the will of God. Later, they are forgotten. The apathy of state governments can be gauged from the fact that the report of any such investigation by the Odisha government cannot be traced. The problem of stampede and the resultant deaths are not limited to just administrative failures of the government in controlling the crowds. There is more to it. 

Generally, in religious places there are lots of arrangements for the safety and protection of the rich and the influential persons called VIPs. If we view the above mentioned incidents we can’t help noting a kind of inhumanity towards the common man. The managers of the temples and the sadhus are perceived as partial to the wealthy and the influential. In other countries there can be open discussions about such stampedes. In 1998 at the Islamic religious place, Meena, 32 Indian Haj pilgrims had lost their lives. There was a stampede in 2006 in Mecca. There was an incident during the ritual of throwing stones at Shaitan (the evil doer). If we see these incidents against the backdrop of similar incidents elsewhere, it might appear that religious rituals (karma kand) are the root cause. But then two more questions emerge. Why is it that this is happening only in Hindu religious places in India? Is it like saying that the Hindutva frame cannot stand without the support of castes and so its religiosity is also senseless without these karma kands? A stampede seems to have close relations with religious thinking. Religious thought itself is grounded in the feeling of being insecure. The psychology which drives us to the religious places is deeply grounded in this overwhelming feeling of being insecure. The increasing social inequality generates a feeling of being insecure which, in turn, leads to the increase in such fears. One can almost say that the ever-increasing crowds at religious places suggest increasing levels of insecurity at various social levels. The crowd technique that has developed with Parliamentary democracy does not look different from the religious technique. Parliamentary democracy in the form of the religious person contributes to making the crowds bigger and more unsafe. In fact, it has adopted democratic politics to succeed. The stampedes in our society thus seem to relate to this thinking. So are Parliamentary democracy and Hindu religious karma kand two sides of the same coin?

The author is editor Of Mass Media, a monthly research journal publishing from New Delhi