Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded the organisation of the Kumbh saying it had “surprised the whole world” but remained silent on the two stampedes it witnessed, in the Mela area and New Delhi railway station.

He, however, sought forgiveness from “Maa Ganga, Maa Yamuna and Maa Saraswati” — and from the public — for “any shortcomings” in the arrangements at the Kumbh.

Pilgrims have alleged a VIP culture and a lack of amenities for ordinary devotees at the Kumbh, and blamed mismanagement for the stampedes.

Modi gave a clean chit to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, praised his leadership role in organising the congregation and suggested that “modern management professionals, and planning and policy experts” study the way the Kumbh was conducted.

His comments, however, seemed an attempt to turn the spotlight back on himself — amid Adityanath’s tom-tomming of the event to his own advantage — and project himself as the high priest of the Kumbh with the chief minister working under his guidance.

A famly member of a Kumbh stampede victim outside Motilal Nehru Medical College in Allahabad on January 31. PTI

“I know that organising such a massive event was no easy task. I pray to Maa Ganga, Maa Yamuna, and Maa Saraswati to forgive us in case there were any shortcomings in our devotion,” Modi wrote in a blog on his website to mark the conclusion of the 44-day event on Wednesday.

He also sought forgiveness from the “Janata Janardan” — the public — saying he saw them as an “embodiment of divinity”.

“In case there has been any shortcoming in our efforts to serve them, I also seek the forgiveness of the people,” he wrote.

The Prime Minister had issued the customary condolence tweets after the Mela and platform stampedes — whose official death tolls remain a questionable 30 and 18, respectively — but his blog carried no mention of them.

The January 29 Mela stampede occurred after the police allegedly blocked all the pontoon bridges to provide a smooth passage to VIPs and baton-charged a swelling crowd of ordinary pilgrims.

The February 15 stampede at New Delhi railway station came amid allegations of a crowd control failure by the police and a railway authority struggling to provide enough trains to keep pace with the government’s constant call to people to rush to the Kumbh.

After both stampedes, the administration and the political leadership were accused of hush-up efforts, first about the fact of the fatalities and later about their number.

Modi, who had on Sunday accused critics of the Kumbh mismanagement of having “fallen into a slave mentality”, hailed the huge congregations in Allahabad and linked it to the nation breaking out of the “mentality of slavery”.

“When the consciousness of a nation is awakened, when it breaks all the shackles of the mentality of slavery of hundreds of years and starts breathing in the air with new consciousness, then a similar scene appears…,” he wrote.

“As a Member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh, I can proudly say that under the leadership of Yogi Ji, the administration and the people worked together to make this Ekta Ka Mahakumbh a success. Be it the state or Centre, there were no rulers or administrators and instead, everyone was a devoted sevak.”

Initially, the BJP had feared that the Mela stampede would put pilgrims off but the continuing surge of crowds since then has emboldened its leaders to try and reap political dividends.

Modi’s silence on the stampedes is in keeping with his general reluctance to refer to atrocities or tragedies that occur on his watch.

He has so far not expressed remorse over the central and Manipur governments’ failure to contain the nearly 22-month-old ethnic unrest in the northeastern state that has killed at least 260 people and displaced 60,000. He has not visited the state once despite repeated demands.

The Prime Minister broke his silence on Manipur several weeks after the violence erupted on May 3, 2023, expressing “pain and sorrow” after a video showed a woman being molested and paraded naked.

Modi had also maintained months of silence over the lynching of Muslims by cow vigilantes during his first term, speaking out only after the self-styled cow protectors appeared to be going out of control.

He had spoken in general terms, saying that killing in the name of protecting the
cow was “unacceptable” and went against the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.