Life they say is a mystery. Death is more mysterious. And not just because there is no knowing when and how it strikes. With the list of 121—mostly women—who lost their lives in a stampede at a Godman’s ‘satsang’ (religious congregation) in Hathras’ Phulrai Mughal Garhi village expected to get longer, the air of helplessness all around is palpable.
Like Raju, a bewildered six-year-old. When asked if he will get over his stomach pain after being trampled upon on the highway by the Baba’s believers, Raju answers coyly: “I don’t know.” His 12-year-old sister Raunaq suffered wounds on the forehead, waist and left feet. Their mother, Roshni, is taking them to the hospital and asking around if she is entitled to free medical treatment. They were among the lucky ones to have escaped the panic-stricken mob’s mad rush. The ill-fated 121 did not.
According to most eyewitnesses that THE WEEK spoke to, the initial rush began with the devotees rushing to pick up the dust where ‘Bhole Baba’ placed his steps as he walked from his luxury car to the podium and back.
The massive crowd was part of a gathering on the ground by the roadside. For months, work had been going on to clear the farmland where maize grew. The land was flattened, swept with fresh cow dung, and a brick-lined pathway just for the Godman Bhole Baba’s car—an XUV 700—to be driven into the makeshift stage. The ‘Baba’ had his own washroom just behind. It was all for his ‘satsang’ on Tuesday.
The FIR filed at the local Sikandrarau police station mentions that while about 80,000 people were expected to attend, about 2,50,000 turned up leading to a frenzy that in a matter of minutes at around 2 PM bellowed into a stampede with screaming men, women and children trying to get out.
Dr Surya Prakash, chief medical superintendent at the Hathras Civil Hospital, told THE WEEK: “Our hospital reported 34 dead. Most of them are from asphyxia or suffocation. 11 are being treated for injuries.”
Very strangely enough, the internet or mobile telephones were not working on Tuesday. Said Monu, who had come from a nearby village, to attend the gathering: “I had tried calling up many of my friends but the phones were not connecting.”
However, the local police denied that jammers had been set up or the internet pulled down.
Godmen have been India’s favourite children of destiny. Often of a shadowy past, they do earn much in a short while, and lead a life of opulence surrounded by countless fawning followers keen to do their bidding.
Take ‘Bhole Baba’ Sakar Hari for instance, several of whose ‘original names’ are doing the rounds—from Suraj Pal Singh to a Sharma-ji. He worked as a constable—later rising to the rank of a head constable—in the state police intelligence department. Seeking premature retirement, he got into the sermonising act.
Over about two decades, ‘Bhole Baba’, originally hailing from nearby Bahadurnagar and his ashram at Mainpuri, accumulated opulous wealth and began owning a cavalcade of luxury cars. He delivers his sermons dressed in a three-piece suit in a customary white and strictly prohibits any photography or videography of his addresses at the congregations.
Always travelling with a posse of muscular bouncers called ‘sewadars’ who are always dressed in a resplendent pink or in a commando-style black, these men are armed with a thick wooden staff.
Eyewitnesses that THE WEEK spoke to reported the presence of around 15,000 ‘sewadars’.
“The ‘sewadars’ beat up people to control the surge and then later gave it up. They are the law enforcers for the ‘Baba’,” said Prem, another lad from a nearby village who attended the meet.
Interestingly, the First Information Report (FIR), does not name ‘Bhole Baba’.
Locals believe that ‘Baba’ is from the Jatav community which is a Scheduled Caste. Most of his followers are from the same community.
It is not quite a coincidence that the ‘Godman’ appeal is fairly strong among the marginalised sections of society. Often fed up with the daily drudgery of a struggling life in the rural and suburbs, they turn to Godmen who suggest cut-and-dried solutions to their problems.
From the class point of view, the Indian Godman’s followers often comprise the well-heeled. And from there on, it becomes a grey zone, with managing of funds and finances becoming the main focus of such religious sects.
These Godmen, ‘Bhole Baba’ being no exception, often nudge their followers to vote for a political party of choice depending on who they are patronised by. It is then that the strange yet familiar interplay of money, riches and political power seeps in. It then becomes a vicious circle with the money, the riches and power feeding on each other.