The Vaikunta Ekadasi festival at Tirupati is widely renowned as an occasion of deep devotion. It is a time when countless worshippers go there to seek blessings and spiritual solace. Unfortunately, this year, the festival turned into a heart wrenching tragedy. At least six lives have been lost and many were injured in the stampede at the festival site. What should have been a celebration of faith became a painful manifestation of a poorly managed large religious gathering wreaking havoc on the lives of the devotees.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD)—responsible for organising the event—has claimed to have planned extensively for the event. Ninety-four counters were reportedly set up across nine centres, and over 1.2 lakh darshan tokens were to be distributed in phases for the ten-day festival. Despite these routine arrangements, the sheer number of devotees overwhelmed the system. Thousands of worshippers began gathering well before the official start of token distribution. This ultimately led to chaotic scenes at several counters. At Bairagipatteda, the crowd reportedly turned unruly, and in the resulting stampede, a fatal chaos followed. The loss of life has left the community in shambles. Devotees who came to Tirupati with hope and prayers faced unimaginable tragedy instead. The grief of the bereaved families cannot be undone by apologies or inquiries. While TTD Chairman BR Naidu’s public apology and the condolences from political leaders may be appreciated, they cannot erase the pain or bring back the lives lost. Accountability is the only answer to such a lethal conundrum. It is noteworthy that this tragedy is not the first of its kind. Similar incidents have occurred at religious gatherings across India in the past. There have been numerous incidents when faith has drawn massive crowds, but planning fell short. The stampede at Hathras last year, which claimed 121 lives, was the most proximate tragic example of what happens when organisers fail to prepare for the unexpected. Quite recently, the Allahabad High Court has directed the then district magistrate and senior superintendent of police of Hathras to personally appear on January 15 and explain why they should not be held liable for the stampede in 2024. Faith has assumed huge importance in today’s India, and it outruns almost everything else in importance. While organisers are to be blamed for not predicting the predictably higher footfalls in religious gatherings, people, too, have persistently thrown caution to wind in the leap of faith.
Nevertheless, the more pressing question at this juncture is: what went wrong in Tirupati? It is clear that the arrangements, while ambitious, did not account for the intensity of the crowd or the emotions of the devotees. Overcrowding, inadequate communication, and a lack of real-time crowd control led to the situation spiralling out of control. Policemen and officials appeared to strive to manage the growing numbers of people, but by then, it was too late. The tragedy calls for immediate changes in how such events are managed. With the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj approaching, it is urgent to learn from these failures to avoid a larger crisis in the near future. Modern tools like AI-based crowd monitoring, better queuing systems, and clear communication can make a huge difference if deployed timely. Emergency medical services, well-trained staff, and exit strategies must become standard practice at all large gatherings.
Faith is powerful and deeply personal, but it should never come at the cost of safety. When people gather in devotion, their trust must be met with care and competence. The Tirupati tragedy was clearly avoidable, and the responsibility lies with those who failed to prepare adequately. As the families of the victims mourn their loved ones, the least one can do is ensure that such a disaster does not happen again. Organisers, authorities, and even devotees themselves must work together to create a safer and more respectful environment. No spiritual journey should end in such tragedy. Accountability for the incident, at the same time, is the most important thing.