Rahul Gandhi / The bodies of the poor were hidden in the statistics, Rahul attacks on the Kumbh stampede

Rahul Gandhi: Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has once again slammed the Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh. This time his target is the stampede at the Prayagraj Mahakumbh and the death toll associated with it. Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and said, "The BBC report shows that the death toll in the stampede at the Kumbh Mela was hidden, just like the bodies of the poor were erased from the data in Covid."

He further said, "Just like the truth is suppressed after every major rail accident, the figures were also suppressed in the Kumbh accident. This is the BJP model - if the poor are not counted, then there is no responsibility either!"

Big claim in BBC report

This statement of Rahul Gandhi has come on the basis of a report recently published by the BBC. This report claims that at least 82 people died in the stampede on the day of Mauni Amavasya in the 2025 Prayagraj Mahakumbh, while the government confirmed only 37 deaths.

For its investigation, the BBC traveled to 11 states and more than 50 districts and spoke to more than 100 victim families. According to the report, huge irregularities were also found in giving compensation to the victim families and including the dead in the list.

The horrific scene of the night of Mauni Amavasya

This accident happened on the night of 28-29 January, the day of Mauni Amavasya, when lakhs of devotees gathered at the Sangam bank for Amrit Snan. Suddenly between 1:30 and 2:00 in the night, the barricading broke and the crowd became uncontrollable. Dozens of people lost their lives and more than 60 people were injured in the stampede.

Government vs Report: Who is right?

The state government had officially announced the death of 37 people in this incident. But the BBC report makes it clear that the actual number of deaths could be much higher. This report has raised serious questions on the transparency of government data.

Opposition's attack and government's silence

This attack by Rahul Gandhi has come at a time when the government has already been accused of hiding data regarding rail accidents, Covid mismanagement and other disasters. Now the questions raised about the Kumbh accident have once again put the government's crisis management and accountability system in the dock.

There has been no official response from the government on this report so far, but the opposition is preparing to raise this issue vigorously in Parliament and among the public.