If the conscience of the “double-engine” government in Uttar Pradesh was not filled with guilt then why did it “suppress” the number of deaths in the Mahakumbh stampede, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav asked in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

He accused the Yogi Adityanath government of using a religious event for political gains and urged the Narendra Modi dispensation to place the “actual number of deaths” before Parliament. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister demanded “strict punitive action” against those responsible for the “cover-up”.

“I want to ask the double-engine government, if there was no guilty conscience then why were the figures suppressed, hidden and erased? Hiding and erasing the truth is also a crime. Who will suffer the punishment for this?,” asked Akhilesh, who was speaking during the motion of thanks to the President’s address.

He accused the “double-engine” government of using a “religious event” for “political campaigning”, stressing that it was “disgraceful and condemnable”.

Akhilesh pointed out that the Adityanath government had made tall claims about organising an unprecedented digital Mahakumbh with the help of modern technology such as CCTVs, drones and live streaming.

“Those claiming to have organised a digital Kumbh could not give the digits of those killed (in the stampede),” Akhilesh told the Lok Sabha, evoking cries of “shame, shame” from the Opposition benches. He demanded an all-party meeting on the tragedy and the handing over the disaster management apparatus of the ongoing Mahakumbh to the army.

Akhilesh questioned the Sanatan Dharma credential of Adityanath, a saffron-robed monk, recalling how helicopters were used to shower flower petals on the congregation on the day of the stampede when “bodies were lying in hospitals”.

“When it was known that people had lost their lives and their bodies were lying in the mortuaries and hospitals, the government filled its helicopter with flowers and showered flower petals. What kind of Sanatani tradition is this, I want to ask the BJP members,” he said. The Treasury benches remained silent.

“God knows how many slippers, clothes and saris were lying there? And how did they clear it? They used JCB machines and tractor trolleys. Nobody knows where the bodies were thrown. But when stench started coming out, officials began a cover-up,” Akhilesh said.

He alleged that the media was also used in the alleged cover-up. “To hide everything, it is heard that some pressure and some sweeteners were given to the media so that the truth does not come out,” he said.

To buttress his charge against Adityanath, Akhilesh looked at the BJP benches and said they could find out for themselves that “the chief minister had not expressed condolences”.

“Seventeen hours after the President and the Prime Minister expressed condolences, the state government acknowledged people had lost their lives,” Akhilesh told the House.

“These are the people who cannot accept the truth even today,” he said.