The Diamond Harbour MP and Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee blamed the BJP’s “double engine government” for the stampede at a temple in Goa on Saturday that took six lives.

“From Hathras to Goa, the recurrence of such tragedies in double engine states reflects the disturbing pattern of administrative apathy,” Abhishek wrote on his X account.

At the Sree Lairai Devi temple in north Goa’s Shirgaon, Bicholim which attracts thousands of devotees from Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka, at least six people, including two women were killed and over 70 injured in a stampede in the wee hours of Saturday.

Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane said eight are critical and two were referred to Bambolim’s Goa Medical College and Hospital.

At least six people, including two women, were killed, and more than 70 sustained injuries after a stampede broke out during a temple festival at a village in North Goa in the early hours of Saturday.

Expressing his anguish over the incident, Abhishek said, “I urge the government of Goa to conduct an impartial inquiry and ensure accountability for this preventable loss of life. Public safety cannot remain a casualty of systemic negligence,” he wrote.

Earlier in the day Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant announced an impartial inquiry with the assurance that the report would be made public and safety measures implemented in all festivals across the state.

Back home in Kolkata, the Mamata Banerjee government had drawn flak over the death of 14 people in a fire at a hotel in Burrabazar.

Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said, the Trinamool contested the Goa elections in 2022 to give the residents an alternative.

“We All India Trinamool Congress went to Goa in 2022. Why? Because the people of Goa were tired of being cheated,” Gokhale said. “Goa will be run by Goans and AITC Goa remains committed to the welfare of the state.”

He reminded in 2017 and 2022, 28 MLAs from the Congress including the leader of the Opposition in both the terms had defected to the BJP.

“We believe in giving Goa a credible alternative to fight the BJP,” he said.

Earlier in 2022, the Trinamool had inducted former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro into the party and fielded 26 candidates in the last Goa Assembly elections, all of whom lost.