LUCKNOW, 13 April 2004 — Thousands of people crowding into a small park for a politician’s birthday celebration and to receive free saris caused a stampede yesterday, killing 26 women and children.
The stampede came two weeks ahead of parliamentary elections in Lucknow, the capital of India’s politically crucial northern Uttar Pradesh state and the constituency of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who rushed to the city after the stampede to get first hand information of the tragedy. The confirmed death toll had reached 26, said Lucknow’s senior police superintendent, Rajiv Ranjan Verma. Doctors said 28 more were injured.
An estimated 10,000 people, mostly women, gathered at the single-exit park to celebrate the birthday of Lalji Tandon, the state leader of Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party — and to receive saris being given to poor women.
“We came in the hope that we would hear his speech. He celebrated his birthday and gave us death,” said Ketaki Devi, who ran out of the park to save herself, leaving her mother-in-law who died in the crush.
“Women were pushing and jostling,” said Devi. “It seemed a wave of people came forward and crushed us. We shouted. We were gasping for breath. I was lucky to break away from the group, leaving behind my mother-in-law.”
