Controversy Over Times Of India’s Maha Kumbh Stampede Editorial
“There was a time when journalism demanded accountability from those in authority above all else,” says noted journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, expressing his disappointment over an editorial piece published by national daily Times of India on the Kumbh Mela Stampede.
Lamenting that “now we have rank apologists seemingly devoid of any compassion for the victims,” the journalist criticised the newspaper for giving context to the Maha Kumbh stampede by comparing the death toll to those who die of Alzheimer’s disease every year. The alleged lack of enhanced and effective security measures led to the stampede in Uttar Pradesh’s Pryagraj during the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela on January 20,Wednesday, claiming at least 30 lives and injuring over 60 others.
Read Also: Stampede At Maha Kumbh 2025: At Least 30 Dead, 60 Injured
While the devotees, victims and their families expect the administration and the general public to discuss the causes of the stampede and measures the authorities should have been taken or should take in the future, the editorial piece of the well-established daily ignited controversy by playing down the stampede, writing, “some disorder is almost ‘inevitable’ in large gatherings.”
Talking about the magnitude of the crowd, the editorial titled “tragedy & context” opined that when reacting to deaths from stampedes and earthquakes, the view must be informed by placing the news in a bigger context. The newspaper stated that so many devotees came and went unharmed while absurdly adding that the death from the stampede in the overcrowded event was “only a fraction of total deaths from various causes.” Adding to its justification, the newspaper tried to elaborate that Alzheimer’s is the seventh leading cause of death in the world, and still it never made it to the front page as a stampede comes.
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Many users have come out expressing disbelief in leading newspapers giving such contexts to the tragedy caused by the laxity in crowd management in big events like Maha Kumbh Mela, one of the world’s biggest religious gatherings. A user, Aravind, called the editorial “insensitive and ridiculous.” Another user, Ganesh Kumar, wondered the first time he was seeing tragedies like a stampede had a context. “The man who wrote this should be given an award as Godi among Godis,” Ganesh Kumar wrote, referring to the TIO editorial piece.
First time we are seeing that tragedies like a stampede have a context…. The man who wrote this should be given an award as Godi among Godis
— Ganesh Kumar (@slganesh1) January 31, 2025
Many other users have also expressed their deep concerns, calling the piece insensitive and bizarre, as they have so far seen media houses holding authorities accountable for the loss of lives in tragedies such as stampedes. Unlike natural calamities, stampedes, especially in big events, could have been avoided with proper planning and security measures.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the apex body for formulating disaster mitigation policies in the country, has given detailed recommendations on crowd management at big events and the prevention of stampedes
Who benefits from this narrative? Who gains when public tragedies are normalized instead of investigated? The moment journalism starts cushioning power instead of challenging it, it stops being journalism
— Ravikanth S 🇮🇳 (@RavikanthS_) January 31, 2025
“A leading newspaper editorial gives ‘context’ to the Maha Kumbh stampede by comparing the death toll to those who die of Alzheimer’s disease every year. Says some disorder is almost ‘inevitable’ in large gatherings. Try telling this to the families of the at least 30 people who lost their lives. There was a time when journalism demanded accountability from those in authority above all else; now we have rank apologists seemingly devoid of any compassion for the victims,” reads journalist Rajdeep Sardesai’s X post.
