Hathras Horror

Humra Quraishi

Will the self-styled godman Narayan Sakar Hari, also known as Bhole Baba, go un-punished and un-arrested? He and his followers have already started blaming "anti-social elements" for the deadly stampede during his 'satsang' (religious gathering) on 2 July, at a village in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras which killed 121 people. Many more were injured and ruined and devastated!

Bhole Baba and his aides seem hiding in some safe refuge. And till date of my filing this column (4 July afternoon) he seems far away from the grasp of the police force! Strange! It seems a certain political lobby and particular politicians are adopting an obvious strategy to protect this controversial man, who has had a tainted past record. It’s reported he had to go on compulsory retirement from the police department, where he served as a constable, after facing serious charges.

With this background or foreground, is it safe to let this man go about un-arrested? Also, why label this entire tragedy a “conspiracy” when the SDM’s (Sub-divisional magistrate) preliminary report on the stampede is this: “A crowd of more than 2 lakh people was present in the pandal. Around 1.40 pm, when Bhole Baba came out of the pandal, his followers started running towards him for ‘darshan’ and to collect the soil on which he had walked…Baba’s personal security and ‘sevadars’ started pushing and shoving the crowd due to which some people fell. The crowd ran towards the open field where most of the people slipped and fell due to the wet slope.” Incidentally, this SDM, gave permission for the ‘satsang’, and was also present at the venue when the incident occurred.

WORLD REFUGEE DAY
On the just passed by World Refugee Day (20 June 2024) I have been thinking of the Sufis who had come from the Central Asian Republics and also from Iraq and Iran, seeking refuge in the Kashmir Valley. They reached the Valley and did not move further. Settling down. The local population accepts them.

Their dargahs and ziarats dotted in and around Srinagar city remind one of the periods in history when these sufis had traveled to the Kashmir Valley. Many reached there as refugees, fleeing their home countries in search of peace. And in all probability must have found tranquillity in such abundance in the Kashmir Valley that none of them went back to their homelands.

Look how times have changed. Today refugees in the world are finding the going to be tough…tougher it gets for them. Ironically, even in a city like New Delhi where those affected by the Partition found refuge, most seem to have forgotten those trying times, as there seems little effort to reach out to present-day refugees, living in refuge in this very city. The refugees of today cannot be expected to turn sufis or demonstrate mystical powers but surely, they are accepted as they are. And don't overlook the fact that seeking refuge is a state of mind. So many times, don't we just close our eyes and mentally transport ourselves, as though finding ways and means of escape, from one particular situation to the next, which could be a little further away from painful realities and insecurities of the day?

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 4, Jul 21 - 27, 2024