Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh): A stampede-like situation occurred during a marathon organised by the Congress here Tuesday. The Congress organised the marathon as part of its election campaign here. However, in the ensuing stampede three girls were injured. Officials said the turnout for the event was much higher than permitted.
The Congress alleged that the incident was a fall out of laxity on part of the district administration and a conspiracy. The BJP on the other hand said the opposition party was making girls ‘pawns’ for its ‘petty politics’.
“Permission was given for 200 children. However, the number of those who actually turned up for the event was much higher,” magistrate of this city Rajiv Pandey said. He added that the incident will be thoroughly probed and action will be initiated against the guilty. The injured girls are being treated at a local hospital here, Pandey informed.
“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,” Pandey said.
The Congress has been organising marathons in different parts of Uttar Pradesh under its ‘Ladhki Hoon, Ladh Sakti Hoon’ (I am a girl, and can fight) campaign that furthers party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s women-centric agenda for the upcoming Assembly polls.
A large number of participants of the long-distance run had gathered around 9.00 am at a school ground. Video clips showed that in a rush to race ahead, participants stumbled and fell on each other.
Pandey claimed that the organisers had announced a scooty as first prize for the marathon’s winner. Participants were overexcited to get the scooty. It led to pushing and shoving, and created a stampede-like situation, he said.
Videos showed there was no social distancing and many were not wearing masks, violating Covid-19 protocols.
Local Congress leader and former Bareilly mayor Supriya Aron said however, defended the situation. “People had gone to Vaishno Devi on a pilgrimage (on New Year day), what happened there? What will you call it? It is human tendency to race ahead (of others),” Aron said. “Here it is girls, who are studying in schools, and a little bit of ‘bhaag daurh’ took place,” she added.
Aron was referring to the 12 people died in a stampede at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu. The board said it happened due to a scuffle between two groups.
Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh alleged that the incident was the result of a ‘conspiracy’ hatched by the BJP government in the state. “Some girls were injured, and we are waiting for further details,” he said.
“The district administration knew that the run was being held and did not cooperate. It was a fallout of laxity on the part of the local administration,” Singh added.
In Lucknow, Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told reporters: “Events like these are organised, some incidents like this do happen. But they (the incidents) should not have happened. Such incidents will not recur.”
Aron also did not rule out the conspiracy angle. “See, all types of people manage to sneak into such events. I will also say there could be a possible conspiracy. Who was there? What was there? Did you see any faces? None amongst us were there. They are planted people. Don’t know who actually sneaked (in) after seeing increasing support for the Congress,” Aron said.
The UP BJP unit in a tweet in Hindi 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.”