In Hathras, Rahul Gandhi says not out to play politics, but flags admn lapses

Animesh Singh

Hathras, July 5

Days after 121 persons were killed in a stampede during a congregation organised by self-styled godman Bhole Baba in Hathras, Leader of the Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday met with the families of some of the deceased in the western Uttar Pradesh town, and sought greater compensation for them.

Main accused surrenders in Delhi

Devprakash Madhukar, main accused in the stampede case, was taken into custody after he surrendered before the police in Delhi, his lawyer claimed late on Friday. Madhukar, mukhya sevadar of the satsang, is the only accused named in the FIR. PTI

Gandhi, accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai, spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, Saharanpur MP Imran Masood and former MP Danish Ali, said he didn’t want to politicise the tragedy, but these families should be given their due. “There is no point in giving the victims’ families inadequate compensation and that, too, not on time.”

He said the families had told him that adequate police arrangements had not been made for the religious event, leading to the stampede.

“These are difficult times for the families. They are poor, therefore the Uttar Pradesh Government should give the compensation magnanimously. It is apparent that the arrangements were inadequate at the ‘satsang’, the administration should look into the matter,” Gandhi told reporters after meeting the victims’ kin. Meanwhile, some of the family members whom the Congress leader had met later shared their experiences with the media.

“Rahul Gandhi said he would raise our issue in Parliament,” said Jugnu Kumar, whose mother Munni Devi, was killed in the stampede. He added that except for his mother, his family did not have any faith in the self-styled Bhole Baba.

Another person Mukesh Kumar, who lost his younger daughter Lata in the mishap, however, said he still had faith in the godman’s abilities to heal people.

“My wife had developed a cancerous growth, which got cured after she applied the Baba’s ‘charan dhool’,” he said, adding that the stampede resulted because people were not disciplined.

However, a local resident, Harish Jain, dismissed the godman as a fraud. “Rather than becoming the followers of such babas, people should use their discretion,” he said.