Tirupati to Kasibugga stampede, Jagan’s YSRCP tears into Naidu govt over 3 temple tragedies in a year

At least 9 devotees died Saturday at Venkateswara temple in Kasibugga, 6 were killed in stampede at Tirupati in January & 7 died in wall collapse at Simhachalam shrine in April.

At the stampede site at Venkateswara Swamy temple in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh; Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy | ANI

Hyderabad: Deaths of six devotees at Tirupati in January, seven at Simhachalam in April and at least nine Saturday at Kasibugga—three temple tragedies at Andhra Pradesh this year have left Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu vulnerable to attacks from the rival YSRCP, which has accused his regime of “utter negligence”.

The Jaganmohan Reddy-led opposition party is holding the Naidu administration responsible for the deaths, accusing it of absent or inadequate security arrangements at Hindu religious sites and disregard for auspicious days, when heavy crowds are expected at popular shrines.

On Saturday, Karthika Shuddha Ekadashi, a revered occasion especially at Vaishnava temples, thousands of devotees thronged the Venkateswara Swamy temple at Kasibugga in Srikakulam, the state’s northern most district adjacent to Odisha.

The temple, popular as Chinna Tirupati (mini Tirupati) locally, constructed and maintained by private persons headed by a Venkateswara devotee named Hari Mukunda Panda, in his nineties, was inaugurated in June this year, and has been attracting the faithful in large numbers since then.

On Ekadashi, the crowds swelled beyond expectations, resulting in, according to district officials, a steel railing along the steps inside the temple giving away and several pilgrims, mostly women, falling down. The crowd panicked and eight women and one child lost their lives in the subsequent stampede.

In January too, it was a heavy rush in the queue lines at Tirupati to collect Vaikunta Ekadashi darshan tokens that caused a stampede that left six devotees dead. In April, a newly built wall collapsed on devotees waiting for darshan during Chandanotsavam at the Simhachalam shrine near Visakhapatnam, killing seven, including three women.

While the Tirupati and Simhachalam temples are under government control, the Kasibugga temple is privately managed, allowing CM Naidu to shift the blame on to the temple managing committee, even as YSRCP leaders attacked him, accusing his administration of negligence.

“While our meticulous planning and precautions minimised life loss due to cyclone Montha, it is distressing to see nine persons losing their lives in a stampede at a temple run by private persons. There would have been scope to control and organise the crowds if the police were informed in advance,” Naidu said, speaking at a government event in Sathya Sai district.

He added that the administration would act sternly against those responsible and that they would be taken into custody. Home minister Anitha Vangalapudi has ordered a probe into the incident, while agriculture minister K. Atchannaidu, who hails from Srikakulam district and visited the site, had to face the wrath of the families of the deceased.

Speaking to ThePrint, Gopinath Jatti, Deputy Inspector General, Visakhapatnam, said a case has been registered against Panda under sections of culpable homicide pertaining to negligence that caused devotee deaths.

“There was no prior deployment as the temple organisers unfortunately did not see the need for any police presence. But thousands turned up. Informed about the traffic jam on the roads leading to the temple, a few constables reached there. But the stampede had already occurred by the time our men could bring the situation into control,” said the senior officer.

However, the YSRCP circulated a video where Panda is replying to reporters’ questions, saying that everyone including the police had been alerted a day before the event.

‘Devotees visit temples for blessings not death’

The YSRCP is accusing the TDP-led government of failing in its duty of protecting public life.

Former endowments minister Vellampalli Srinivas termed the Kasibugga incident “a complete failure of the coalition government” while holding Naidu and his administration “squarely responsible for the deaths of nine innocent devotees”.

“The (state) administration is shamelessly trying to escape responsibility by claiming that the temple is privately run. Does the duty to protect citizens disappear simply because a temple is private? Can the state abandon devotees just because a temple is not under its purview?” the YSRCP leader questioned, while speaking to media.

Vellampalli termed the statements of Naidu and other ministers as highly irresponsible and insensitive, while recalling that 29 devotees lost their lives in the 2015 Godavari Pushkaram stampede at Rajahmundry during TDP’s previous tenure, “caused by Chandrababu’s obsession with publicity”.

“Devotees go to temples seeking blessings, not death. These are state-sponsored deaths caused by negligence. If people cannot return safely after darshan, what can we say about the governance here?” he asked.

While the YSRCP demanded Rs 25 lakh as ex-gratia to the families of the dead, former CM Jagan said similar incidents had occurred earlier in Andhra Pradesh, referring to the Tirupati and Simhachalam tragedies.

“Despite repeated tragedies, the government has failed to take proper precautions and has acted with utter negligence. This repeated loss of innocent lives reflects the inefficiency of Chandrababu’s administration,” Jagan said in a statement, urging the government to take serious corrective measures to prevent such incidents in the future.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)