Release accurate death toll figures from Kumbh stampede: Akhilesh Yadav in Parliament

Akhilesh Yadav

In a direct attack on the Yogi Adityanath government, Samajwadi Party chief and Lok Sabha MP Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday urged the state dispensation to come up with accurate figures of deaths that occurred due to a stampede during the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

According to official estimates, 30 people succumbed and 60 others were injured when a stampede broke out at the Maha Kumbh venue in Prayagraj on January 30.

In a direct attack on Adityanath, he said the chief minister did not express grief over the Mahakumbh stampede deaths till the President and the Prime Minister did so. "The state government accepted after 17 hours. These are people who cannot accept the truth." The SP chief added that the focus in the ongoing Mahakumbh is on publicity and not arrangements.

Those claiming to have organised a digital Kumbh could not give digits to the casualties in the Prayagraj stampede, Yadav said in lower house today as he launched a scathing attack on the Yogi Adityanath government

Addressing the House during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, Yadav remarked the Centre had quoted big numbers in the Union Budget. "They gave a lot of numbers in the Budget, they should also give the numbers of the dead at Mahakumbh," he said.

The Samajwadi Party chief said the focus during the religious congregation was on publicity and not arrangements. A government's publicity at a religious gathering is condemnable, he said. "Those claiming to have organised a Digital Kumbh could not give the digits of those killed (in the stampede). Someone lost parents, someone a daughter, someone siblings. The figure of children is still missing."