Azad Samaj Party MP from Nagina, Chandrashekhar Azad, on Monday called for a thorough investigation into the Hathras stampede incident and demanded strict action to prevent such cases from happening in future.
On July 2, a stampede led to the deaths of 121 people at a ‘Satsang’ event of self-styled godman Suraj Pal Singh, also known as ‘Bhole Baba’ in Fulari village, Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.
He made this statement after meeting with relatives of stampede victims.
“There should be a thorough investigation (into the Hathras stampede incident) and strict action should be taken so that such incidents don’t happen again” he told ANI.
Azad also demanded state government to provide Rs 25 lakh as compensation to families of the victims of Hathras stampede incident and Rs 5 lakh to those who were injured.
He also asserted that if the self-styled godman genuinely sympathises with the victims, then he should give at least Rs 1 crore as compensation to the families of the deceased.
“My demand is that the families of the victims should be given Rs 25 lakh as compensation, and those injured should get Rs 5 lakh. Also, if Baba is genuinely sympathetic to the victims, he should give at least Rs 1 crore as compensation to the families of the deceased. If he doesn’t, then it means that he doesn’t care about the victims’ suffering,” he said.
Azad also asserted that if the administration and senior police officials had taken responsibility and hadn’t shown negligence, then the incident could have been averted.
“This is a very painful incident, so many lives have been lost. Perhaps such a big incident has never happened in Uttar Pradesh before. I think that if the administration and senior police officials had taken responsibility and didn’t show negligence, we wouldn’t have lost so many lives today,” he said.
Chandrashekhar Azad also questioned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the Hathras stampede incident, saying, “I want to ask the Chief Minister what action they have taken.”
