Temple stampede kills six in India (VIDEO)

At least six people were killed and around 40 injured during a stampede at the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday. Thousands of Hindu devotees had gathered at the temple for one of the major festivals devoted to Lord Vishnu, which attracts a large crowd every year. 

The stampede occurred when a large number of people rushed to collect tokens required to enter the temple and view Lord Vishnu, worshipped as Lord Venkateshwara in Tirumala, during the festival that begins on Friday. Devotees believe that seeing Vishnu during the festival period brings spiritual benefits.

There are conflicting media reports caustic exact cause of the stampede, with some witnesses suggesting that a woman in the queue had felt nauseous, prompting authorities to open the gates to rush her to hospital, and the crowd surged forward, triggering the commotion. On Thursday, temple management said “elaborate arrangements” were in place to manage large crowds during the ten-day festival.

Bhanu Prakash Reddy, a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board, a government trust that manages the temple, expressed regret over the incident. “This has never happened in TTD’s history. I sincerely seek an apology from the devotees. We will conduct an inquiry and take serious action,” he said, according to India Today.

Videos circulating on social media show police officers managing the crowd as people pushed against one another during the commotion. Other footage captures police performing CPR on injured devotees following a stampede.

Temple management insisted that 91 counters were open for the distribution of tokens, which was planned for Thursday morning. However, thousands of devotees seeking tokens started gathering in advance. 

TTD chairman B R Naidu, who claimed the incident was a result of mismanagement, told the Indian Express that authorities had taken steps to prevent traffic issues in Tirupati. “Around 3,000 police officers, along with 1,550 TTD personnel, have been assigned for security arrangements,” Naidu said.

He emphasized that only devotees with tokens would be permitted in the queues, as accommodation is limited in Tirumala, where the temple is situated. The average daily visitors to the temple is estimated to be around 90,000, according to TTD officials.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X that he was “pained” by the stampede and that the state government was providing “all possible assistance to those affected.”

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, an ally of the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance, which is in power at federal level, described the incident as “deeply disturbing.”

Temple management have been in the eye of a storm recently. In September, Chandrababu Naidu claimed that sweets (called ‘laddus’) served to mainly vegetarian devotees at the Sri Venkateswara temple were contaminated with animal fat. Subsequently, the Supreme Court of India accused Andhra Pradesh’s government of escalating a dispute without strong evidence.