The Opposition rocked both Houses of Parliament on Monday over the Kumbh stampede deaths, demanding a list of the dead and staging protests and walkouts after being refused a separate discussion on the matter.
Officially, 30 pilgrims were killed in the January 29 stampede but unofficial reports say the figures are much higher. The state’s BJP government has so far not released a list of the dead, prompting Opposition accusations of hiding the true death toll.
The Opposition had submitted notices in both Houses demanding the day’s business be suspended for a discussion on the stampede deaths, but the presiding officers refused.
This led to walkouts and uproarious protests, with slogans targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
Opposition members stood in the Well of the Lok Sabha through Question Hour after Speaker Om Birla denied a discussion while refraining from adjourning the House.
Birla stressed the importance of Question Hour and told the protesting MPs they could raise the matter during the discussion on the motion of thanks to the President’s address.
The Opposition members chanted slogans such as “Release a list of the Kumbh dead”, “Modi-Yogi down, down”, “Modi-Yogi shame, shame” and “Anti-Hindu BJP shame, shame”.
Birla asked the Opposition members whether voters had elected them to smash tables in the House or to hold discussions.
Opposition members walked out at the end of Question Hour after the Speaker refused to let them raise the Kumbh tragedy even during Zero Hour.
The Rajya Sabha witnessed two walkouts – the first around 11am when Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar refused a discussion on the stampede deaths. The Opposition members returned for Question Hour but walked out again around noon when Dhankhar stuck to his stand.
In the afternoon, while speaking on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue. He said his “guess” was that the Kumbh death toll was in the thousands.
This drew protests from the Treasury benches. Dhankhar asked Kharge to authenticate the figure by the end of the day.
“I pay tribute to the thousands of people who have died in the Kumbh Mela,” Kharge had told the House.
As BJP members protested, he said: “This is my guess. You provide the exact number of deaths, if I am wrong.”
Dhankhar immediately asked Kharge to withdraw the figure but he did not.
Intervening, commerce minister Piyush Goyal said the leader of the Opposition had damaged India’s reputation globally with his statement on the deaths in the Kumbh Mela.
He said 800 people had died in a stampede during the 1954 Kumbh Mela when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister, and that another stampede had killed 200 people when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister. He said 42 people died in stampedes in the Mela in 2013.
Dhankhar then said the leader of the Opposition’s “atrocious” observations had shaken everyone in the country and asked Kharge to authenticate his claim.
Biju Janata Dal member Subhashish Khuntia said the tragedy had resulted from mismanagement.
“Who is responsible for the disaster? The Kumbh Mela was ruined by mismanagement and discrimination between VVIPs and common devotees,” he said.
The BJD had earlier joined the Opposition in the walkouts.