The real culprit behind the kumbh stampede

The train was late, it always was.

The platform, a sea of restless bodies, shifting, pushing, waiting.

A father tightened his grip on his son’s hand.

An elderly pilgrim whispered a prayer, clutching a stranger’s arm for balance.

A woman glanced at the crowd, eyes scanning for her husband—he was right here a moment ago.

Then the train arrived.

The doors slid open, and in an instant, faith met chaos.

A push. A stumble. A scream.

And then, the avalanche began.

Bodies pressed against metal.

Shoes lost in the scramble.

Voices swallowed in the deafening crush of panic.

This wasn’t an accident.

It wasn’t a tragedy.

It was a failure foretold.

The Stampede Wasn’t a Mystery—It Was a Prediction

Kumbh Mela happens every 12 years. The numbers are never a surprise.

The railway knew millions were coming.

The state knew the city wasn’t built for them.

The authorities knew what happens when you trap thousands in confined spaces.

And yet, when the headlines screamed, “Stampede at Prayagraj Junction!”they all reacted as if this was some unforeseen disaster.

Was it unforeseen?

Or was it simply ignored until it was too late?

A System That Was Never Built to Hold Them

They call it an “act of God.”

They call it “uncontrollable crowds.”

But how do you call it uncontrollable when it happens every single time?

Kumbh Mela 1954.

Kumbh Mela 1986.

Kumbh Mela 2013.

And now, again.

The city was transformed,a 40-square-kilometer miracle of tents and makeshift roads. But did it have:

A real-time transport flow system? No.

Dedicated internal transit to manage movement? No.

Live crowd management updates across railway platforms? No.

We built a city but forgot to make it livable.

If we can track every online order in real-time, why can’t we track the movement of millions of people?If airports can control foot traffic with efficiency, why do railway stations still rely on blind guesses?

If faith can bring approx 480 million people together then why does logistics keep failing them?

The Railway System That Refused to Adapt

“Indian Railways, the backbone of this pilgrimage, became its weakest link”

The moment these devotees stepped off the train, they were entering a warzone of human congestion.Platforms overflowing beyond capacity.

No clear exits, only bottlenecks that led to footbridges too narrow for the rush.No staggered train arrivals, just a flood of people with no space to breathe.

The blame is not on the crowd,

they only followed the paths given to them.

The blame is on the system that knew what was coming and did nothing to change.

A Stampede is Never About the First Fall—It’s About the Panic That Follows

Fear is a virus.

It spreads faster than any disease.

One misplaced step, one moment of uncertainty and the chain reaction begins.

At Prayagraj Junction, thousands of people trapped on a platform that never should have held that many. No guidance. No exits. No way out.

At Delhi Station, a sudden last-minute platform change. Exhausted travelers forced to sprint, to push, to rush, until someone tripped.

Across every location, the same pattern, no structured movement, no fail-safes, no alternate pathways.

Would you ever trap thousands of people in a stadium with no exits?

Would you ever allow a concert to run without crowd control barriers?

Then why was this accepted at one of the largest human gatherings on Earth?

The Kumbh City Was Built—But Not Connected

Imagine a highway with no exit ramps.

Imagine a skyscraper with no emergency stairwells.

That’s what the Kumbh City was,

a beautiful illusion of preparedness.

No internal transport infrastructure.

No shuttle system like in Mecca’s Hajj pilgrimage.

No designated holding zones to stagger incoming devotees.

People weren’t just arriving.

They were being funneled into chaos.

Who Pays the Price?

After every tragedy, the script remains the same.

A government inquiry is launched.

A few officials are “reassigned.”

A report is filed.

And then, silence—until the next disaster.

Who takes responsibility?

The railways blame overcrowding.

The state blames “unpredictable” crowd behavior.

The public moves on, until it happens again.

But let’s ask the real questions

Was any official fired for negligence?

Did any minister step down in accountability?

Was there any real punishment beyond symbolic committee reports?

Because if there isn’t, then we already know—this will happen again.

And next time, it could be you or someone you love.

The Real Culprit Isn’t the Crowd—It’s the System That Set Them Up to Fail

Let’s stop pretending this is about uncontrollable human behaviour.

This isn’t about the number of people.

This isn’t about divine will.

This is about a government that built temples but forgot about transport systems.If airports can handle mass movements, why can’t railway stations?

If football stadiums have exit protocols, why don’t pilgrimage sites?

If disaster management exists, why is it always reactive instead of proactive?

Because faith is not the problem.

Management is.

What Should Have Been Done (And Must Be Done Now)

Temporary Platform Expansions, If we can build an entire Kumbh city in weeks, why can’t stations expand temporarily?

Live Passenger Tracking, If we can track food deliveries in real-time, why can’t we track mass movement in sensitive locations?

Controlled Ticketing & Staggered Arrivals, Why are all devotees arriving in one burst? Why wasn’t a staggered time slot system implemented?

Emergency Evacuation Zones, Where are the backup exits when platforms become overcrowded?

Personal Accountability for Leadership,No one is punished, which is why no one cares to fix the system. That has to change.

A Country That Moves Only After Tragedy

Is a Country Always Waiting for the Next One

If this was a terror attack, the government would have held emergency meetings overnight.If this was an industrial disaster, companies would be fined in the billions.But because it was “just a stampede”, it’s treated as an unfortunate accident.

It wasn’t.

It was an institutional failure

that was ignored until lives were lost.

And if no one is held responsible—

If no systemic changes are made—

Then the next tragedy is already waiting to happen.

The real culprit?

A mindset that waits for people to die before fixing the problem.

And if we don’t change it,

Then we are all complicit in the next disaster.

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Thank you

An Indian citizen & an economist