Lucknow, April 12: Nirmala was dead, but what happened to her baby?

No one could tell Maya as she regained consciousness at Balrampur hospital, her hands bruised, a fracture in one leg. She can’t tell how many running feet stamped on her hands or on her feet.

“I was trying to resist a group of men. Suddenly, I was given a huge jolt and I was thrown at least a metre away. One of my hands was lying on the ground. Men ran over it. They fell, got up and began to run again. Some women who were lying on the ground screamed but were still stamped on by the rushing mob,” 35-year-old Maya Gautam said from her hospital bed.

On being told by her brother-in-law, who is an assistant at Lalji Tandon’s office, that the BJP leader would distribute saris and money to the poor on his birthday, Maya, like nearly 5,000 others — mostly women — went to Chandrashekhar Azad Park.

“I asked my sister to go also,” Maya said.

She recognised 25-year-old Nirmala sitting near the front with her baby and made her way towards her neighbour in the lane where she lives in the Mahanagar area.

When the stampede got under way in full force — fed on by a BJP supporter who started to throw saris all around — Maya saw Nirmala fall to the ground and being trampled upon.

Maya herself was then trying to regain her feet after surviving the first rush.

“I began to scream for help. Suddenly, I was pushed hard and I fell. I could see a shower of legs on me. I was being scorched by the heat and despite that I was screaming. I could see more legs coming and then I don’t know what happened,” she said.

She got back to her senses at Mahanagar Bhaurao Deoras hospital, from where she was shifted later.

When Maya reached the park at 12.30 pm, it was already overflowing with people — women and men from the slum areas of Ghusiana, Baliabad and Kumantola. Some had been waiting since 10 am.

“There were those who, like me, were BJP supporters, but there were others, too. Some Muslim women were also there,” she said.

Tandon arrived around 1 pm and hundreds of party activists who escorted him to the small dais garlanded him and shouted “Lalji Tandon, long live”.

“We were told that Tandonji was turning 65 (he actually turned 70). So 65 garlands were offered to him by a youth organisation of the party. The people were already hungry and restless. Some women had babies in their laps. They were crying. There was no water. They were being assured by party supporters that they would get good rewards and the people stayed,” Maya recalled.

Tandon apologised for making the people wait, saying he had been held up by some urgent work. “Apka aashirwad hum yaad rakhenge (I will remember your blessings),” he told the crowd as sari distribution started.

After about 20 saris had been given away, a 13-year-old boy caused the first stir by grabbing two, provoking protests from others. The pushing and jostling had just begun when a section of men made a charge. Party activists appealed: “Shanti banaye rakhen (Please maintain peace).”

The appeal had no impact. Those who were close to the place from where the saris were being distributed tried to snatch more than once. A group of policemen standing nearby came chasing with their lathis and the crowd started to run.

It became a stampede, helped by a party activist hurling saris towards the crowd.