A major disaster akin to the recent stampede at Maa Vaishno Devi was averted when a near similar situation occurred during a marathon for young girls organised by the Congress as part of its election campaign in Bareilly on Tuesday.
Luckily, only three girls sustained minor injuries.
Reacting to the incident, while the Congress alleged that the incident was a fallout of the laxity of the Bareilly district administration and termed it as a conspiracy, the Bharatiya Janata Party said that the opposition party was making girls “pawns” for its “petty politics”.
Local officials, however, maintained that the turnout for the event was much higher than permitted.
City Magistrate of Bareilly, Rajiv Pandey, said, “Permission was given for the participation of only 200 school students. However, the number of those who actually turned up for the event was much higher. The incident will be thoroughly probed and action will be initiated against the guilty. Three girls, who participated in the marathon, were injured and they were treated at the district hospital. What led to the near stampede-like situation, what was the laxity, how a large number of children gathered there and the permission given by the Higher Education department are some of the aspects that will be probed threadbare.”
Pandey further said, “The organisers had announced a scooty as first prize for the marathon winner. Participants were over-excited to bag the first prize leading to pushing and shoving that led to a stampede-like situation. Videos showed there was no social distancing and many participants were not wearing masks, violating Covid protocols.”
The Congress has been organising marathons for girls in different parts of Uttar Pradesh under its 'Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon' poll programme, an initiative taken by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's women-centric agenda for the upcoming assembly polls.
On Tuesday, a large number of participants of the long-distance run had gathered around 9 am at a school ground and video clips showed that in a rush to race ahead, participants stumbled and fell over each other.
Local Congress leader and former Bareilly Mayor Supriya Aron said, “People had gone to Vaishno Devi on a pilgrimage (on New Year day) and what happened there? What will you call it? It is human tendency to race ahead (of others). Here it is girls, who are studying in schools, and a little bit of 'bhaag daud' took place.”
Not ruling out a conspiracy angle, Aron said, “See, all types of people manage to sneak into such events. I will also say there could be a possible conspiracy.”
In Lucknow, Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told reporters: “Events like these are organised and some incidents like this do happen. But they (the incidents) should not have happened. Such incidents will not recur.”
Meanwhile, a tweet posted by UP BJP unit said, “Making innocent girls pawns for your petty politics, is the height of shamelessness. The girls were beaten up in Jhansi (marathon), while the participants were kept hungry in Lucknow (marathon), and girls have been injured in Bareilly. Have some shame, Priyanka Vadra.”