The death of five pilgrims from Bengal in the January 29 Mahakumbh stampede, followed by allegations of mishandling of dead bodies against the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government, has posed a new embarrassment for the Bengal BJP as the ruling Trinamool Congress has pitched the issue as a weapon against the saffron ecosystem.
A source said the Bengal BJP leadership has been desperately contacting senior leaders in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, requesting them to speed up the processes so that the victims from Bengal could receive their compensation more easily.
The BJP leaders believe that complaints about mishandling bodies and TMC politics will be neutralised once the victims’ kin receive
compensation.
“The death of pilgrims from Bengal in Mahakumbh is an embarrassment for us. So, our leaders are doing their best to ensure that at least those families can get the compensation as soon as possible,” a source in the BJP said.
Soon after the tragic incident near the Sangam riverfront in Allahabad, which officially claimed 30 lives in the early hours of January 29, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced a compensation of ₹25 lakh each for those who lost their lives in the stampede.
“Everyone who lost their life in the incident will certainly receive the proposed compensation. BJP does not politicise dead bodies, as TMC has been trying to do by using the bereaved family members,” said BJP Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya.
Asked whether they had been using their contacts to ensure that the victims’ families received compensation easily, Bhattacharya said: “We are doing whatever is required. But we don’t want to publicly campaign about our efforts, as we don’t want to politicise the issue.”
Five pilgrims from Bengal, including one from Calcutta, were killed in the stampede. The victims are Basanti Poddar, 63, from Calcutta’s Golf Green; Urmila Bhuniya, 78, from West Midnapore’s Salboni; Binod Ruidas, 42, from West Burdwan’s Jamuria; Gayatri Dey, 60, from Birbhum’s Rampurhat; and Amiya Saha, 33, from Malda’s Kaliachak.
The Trinamool Congress has found a way to corner the BJP and the party-led Uttar Pradesh government, as no bodies were sent with proper death certificates or post-mortems done. Mamata Banerjee’s party has repeatedly alleged that these formalities, which the Yogi government should have completed, were missed to hide the number of deaths and deprive the poor people of Bengal of compensation.
The state government has arranged autopsies of the bodies once they reached Bengal to maintain a formal record of the cause of death.
A source said senior officials from Nabanna had already contacted their Uttar Pradesh counterparts, informing them of the number of victims in the Mahakumbh stampede and urging them to proceed with the necessary formalities.
“However, we have not received formal communication from the UP government so far. We have done our duty and kept a record of the post-mortem reports,” said a senior state government official.
A source added that chief minister Mamata Banerjee was likely to speak on the issue during the Bengal Assembly budget session, which will begin on February 10.
On Monday, the body of Gayatri Dey, 60, arrived at Birbhum’s Rampurhat, giving TMC leaders a fresh opportunity to claim that sending bodies without the necessary formalities was part of the BJP’s ploy to deprive the victims’ families of
official compensation.
“They just sent the body by ambulance, accompanied by a police constable, without any death certificate. It clearly indicates that the BJP-led UP government wants to downplay the number of deaths and deprive the poor people of Bengal of compensation,” said Soumen Bhakat, chairman of the Trinamool-run Rampurhat municipality, who visited Dey’s house after hearing of her death.
“I personally contacted senior police and administrative officials in Allahabad, but no one could provide a proper explanation for why the body was sent without proper post-mortem and documents,” he added.
Pratap Dey, the victim’s son, said that when his mother’s body was handed over, he asked for the necessary documents and compensation.
“They (UP officials) told me that I would get everything through the local district administration at my doorstep. I don’t know if I will get the ₹25 lakh compensation announced by the UP government,” said Pratap.
A senior state government official said they would wait for a few more days and contact their Uttar Pradesh counterparts again.
“We should wait for some time, as it may be that the Uttar Pradesh government is taking some time to process the compensation package,” said the official.
