Thirty People Killed, 60 Injured in Stampede at the Kumbh Mela; Doing Away of Separate Rail Budget a Colossal Mistake; Rape-Murder Convicted Ram Rahim Gets Parole Before Elections, Yet Again

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Tanweer Alam, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Over to Sidharth Bhatia for today’s Cable

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Snapshot of the day

January 29, 2025

Sidharth Bhatia

Thirty people were killed and around 60 others were injured during a stampede at the Kumbh Mela early today, the Uttar Pradesh police said in a press conference this evening, many hours after the incident took place. Prime Minister Modi has condoled those who lost their relatives in the crush, which PTI notes deferred the ritual bath by seers scheduled for the early morning to the afternoon. Kumbh Mela deputy inspector general Vaibhav Krishna said that after some barricades in one area of the Mela broke, some pilgrims who were sleeping or waiting on the ground were trampled by others who were moving fast there. Even as some in the opposition blamed “a special focus on VIP movement” and mismanagement for the deaths, Krishna said there were “strict orders that no VIP protocols would be in effect today”.

Over 37% of people C-Voter surveyed ahead of the budget said they anticipate their quality of life will decline over the next year – this is the highest percentage since 2013 – while over half said the inflation rate “adversely” affected the quality of their lives; almost two-thirds said inflation was unchecked and prices went up since Modi became PM;