Rahul Gandhi alleges that the death toll in the stampede during Kumbh was hidden

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Uttar Pradesh government of deliberately under-reporting the death toll in the stampede that took place at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj on January 29. He cited an investigation by BBC News Hindi. The report claimed that at least 82 people died during the incident, far more than the officially reported 37. The report highlighted that deaths of economically deprived victims were erased from the official count. Rahul Gandhi wrote on X that the BBC report shows that the death toll in the Kumbh Mela stampede was hidden. Just like the bodies of the poor were erased from the data in COVID. Just like the truth is suppressed after every major rail accident. This is the BJP model – no count of the poor, no responsibility! Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also accused the UP government of presenting “false figures”. He repeated the BBC’s figure of 82 deaths and compared it with the official figure of 37. Akhilesh Yadav wrote that facts vs truth: 37 vs 82. Everyone should see, hear, know, understand and share. Not only investigation of the truth, its dissemination is also equally important. BJP should introspect and so should BJP members and their supporters that those who can lie about someone’s death, by climbing which mountain of lies are they considering themselves the head of their false empire. Even such BJP members who give false figures will not be trusted.