DMK flays Centre, UP govt for 'hiding' Mahakumbh stampede casualties

The BJP government at the Centre is "protecting" the Uttar Pradesh government by hiding Mahakumbh stampede deaths and showing a flawed death toll, Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK alleged on Wednesday.

Appropriate arrangements must have been made for the devotees taking part in that event if the BJP had 'real bhakthi.' However, it was not done. "The BJP and its associates show their bhakthi only outside the temple and only in politics. That is why the kumbh fest was conducted in a negligent manner," DMK mouthpiece 'Murasoli' alleged in an editorial on February 5 adding the BJP government was responsibile for the tragic deaths.

Pointing to participation of crores of devotees in the festival, the "unmanageable crowd" and deaths rising gradually, the Dravidian party newspaper alleged "restriction was imposed on news outlets" to not report the increase in the number of deaths and accordingly, the news was withheld.

"Only after 17 hours, the Yogi government confirmed the number of deaths as 30," the DMK daily said adding the opposition parties were "not allowed" to raise question in this regard in the Parliament. "The law of the Sanghis (RSS persons) is that nothing should be questioned if it was done by the BJP and if Yogis ruled."  "Forty eight people have lost their lives at the Kumbhamela in Uttar Pradesh. Concealing such deaths and by showing false account, the Union BJP government is protecting the Uttar Pradesh government," the newspaper alleged, adding though the Uttar Pradesh government maintained 30 deaths, an English national daily reported 48 deaths after counting the bodies. An official even said that not all of the 30 died in the stampede; they had several diseases.

The DMK's Tamil daily also cited inputs from a news report on the festival, the crux of which was alleged confusion, chaos and improper event management (outsourcing of several services/tasks) causing misery to the devotees.