Category: Government

The Wire Wrap | Delhi Stampede, Vikatan Cartoon, New CEC Appointed

The Wire’s Jahnavi Sen is joined by Jomy Thomas, bureau chief at Malayala Manorama, and Seema Chishti, editor of The Wire, to talk about the official response and attempts to obfuscate the casualties.

On Saturday night, there was a stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station as massive crowds gathered on the platforms to board trains going towards Prayagaraj, where the Maha Kumbh Mela is ongoing. At least 18 people were killed in the chaos. This tragic event took place two weeks after there was a stampede at the Kumbh itself, where at least 30 people died.

The Wire’s Jahnavi Sen is joined by Jomy Thomas, bureau chief at Malayala Manorama, and Seema Chishti, editor of The Wire, to talk about the official response and attempts to obfuscate the casualties. They also discuss the Vikatan website becoming inaccessible after Bharatiya Janata Party members criticised a cartoon depicting Modi, the way Indians are being deported from the US, the Ranveer Allahbadia controversy and the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the chief election commissioner despite Rahul Gandhi’s dissent note on the process.

In New India, Mourning the Dead Is a Crime Against the Living

Even as people die in preventable tragedies, the government wants us to focus on the ‘positive’ – that so many people are alive.

At least 18 people were killed in a stampede at a railway station in the country’s capital due to government negligence.

But we Indians seem to have forgotten how to write prose. As British historian Ralph Fox once said, prose is the art of calling things by their true names. Humanity invented language to reveal the truth, but over time, it has been used as a veil to obscure it. In India, for the past decade, language has been wielded not to tell the truth but to hide it.

Rumours are branded as truth and truth is defamed as rumour. For instance, the spokesperson of the Indian railways initially dismissed the stampede as a rumour and the country’s largest news agency broadcast this falsehood. But they were not alone in this deception. A shopkeeper claimed that all arrangements were perfect, the platform was empty and the stampede occurred only because people began pushing each other. It seems that we no longer wish to confront unpleasant truths.

The government attempted to explain the tragedy by attributing it to a “sudden rush”. But no one questioned whether this crowd had truly gathered out of nowhere. Was this not a disaster waiting to happen? Was it so difficult to foresee, given the unusual surge in ticket sales, that the platforms would be crowded beyond capacity? Why were general-class tickets issued without regard for the platform’s limits? Why was the correlation between the number of trains and ticket sales ignored? Why could the government, which digs up roads and hammers nails into them to block farmers from entering Delhi, not prevent a crowd from gathering on a railway platform?

On the day of the stampede, my colleague was on his way to attend a seminar in Varanasi. When he reached New Delhi station via the metro, he encountered a massive crowd. The metro’s exit doors relented under pressure. People shouted, “Ganga Maiya ki Jai” and began pushing each other in a frenzy. Terrified, my friend canceled his trip and returned home. If an ordinary citizen could sense disaster, why did the police and other agencies fail to anticipate it?

This crowd did not gather spontaneously. For months, the prime minister, several chief ministers and various governments have been urging Hindus to attend the Kumbh Mela. Large posters and hoardings inviting people to the Kumbh have adorned the walls of government buildings. Volunteers have been encouraging Hindus not to miss this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to earn spiritual merit. Prominent figures have been posting pictures of themselves bathing in the “holy” waters of the Ganga, reinforcing the idea that one’s “Hinduness” is proven by attending the Kumbh. Reports of roads leading to Allahabad being choked for days should have alerted authorities to the unprecedented traffic. Why were no arrangements made to manage it?

After attempts to dismiss the tragedy failed, its severity was downplayed as “some chaos” that was “under control.” The railway minister also attempted to obscure the truth with misleading statements. Eventually, they admitted to the stampede and the resulting deaths. But now the blame is being shifted to the public’s impatience: How could it possibly handle such an “unruly crowd”?

A lesson ignored

This is not the first time such negligence has occurred. Five years ago, during the initial days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the prime minister abruptly announced a lockdown without preparing for its consequences. Factories closed, construction halted and eateries shut down. Daily wage workers and labourers suddenly lost their livelihoods. The government made no provisions to sustain them during this period. What were they expected to do?

The morning after the announcement, workers from Delhi and other metros began walking back to their villages. At the time, the government claimed it was not responsible for transporting them. The workers were labeled “irresponsible” and accused of potentially spreading the virus. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP even said, “Why are migrants leaving Delhi? For want of money or food? No. Just irresponsible. There is no money or jobs waiting for them back home. It’s to utilise their forced ‘chutti’ to catch up with their families or errands back home. The gravity of the situation hasn’t dawned on them.”

While lakhs of people walked thousands of kms, the government remained a silent spectator.

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court urging the government to provide relief to the workers. The government lied under oath, claiming no workers were on the roads. While the nation watched thousands of workers trudging home on television, the court saw only what the government wanted it to see.

The government displayed similar incompetence during demonetisation. Images of endless queues outside banks were met with mockery from government supporters, who asked why people couldn’t endure a few hours in line when soldiers stand guard on borders for weeks.

Before the Delhi railway stampede, there was a stampede at the Kumbh Mela. The exact death toll remains unknown, just as the true number of Covid-19 deaths. The government and its supporters grow uneasy at the mention of death, accusing critics of spreading negativity. They insist we focus on the “positive” – that so many people are still alive. Those who have survived this government’s policies and politics should be grateful – not to their stars but to the government.

Whatever the government says, it is disheartening to see society accept this as its fate. One must say that this is predominantly a Hindu society. Has a significant population of Hindus convinced themselves that after centuries, “Hindu Raj” has returned to India? Are we to ignore trivial matters like human lives in pursuit of a grander objective – the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra? Hindus seem to have surrendered their rights as citizens, reducing themselves to subjects at the mercy of their rulers.

Perhaps we should prepare for a new law: mourning the dead will be deemed a crime against the living.

Supreme Court Stays Lokpal Order Saying High Court Judges Are Under its Ambit

The Lokpal, headed by former Supreme Court Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, in two separate orders dated January 2025 had held that it can investigate corruption allegations against judges of the high courts.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court in a suo motu proceeding has stayed the Lokpal order which held that it can entertain complaints against high court judges under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.

The Lokpal, headed by former Supreme Court Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, in two separate orders dated January 2025 had held that it can investigate corruption allegations against judges of the high courts.

In an order dated January 8, a full bench of the Lokpal headed by Justice Kanwilkar while dismissing a complaint against former Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud held that judges of the Supreme Court cannot be brought under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal as the apex court was not constituted under an Act of parliament but under Article 134 of the constitution.

As reported by The Wire, the Lokpal in the same order also held that judges of other courts, including the high courts, are under the ambit of the anti-corruption watchdog.

In a separate order dated January 27, the Lokpal while dealing with a complaint against a high court judge, without entering into the merits of the complaint, ruled:

“We make it amply clear that by this order we have decided a singular issue finally – as to whether the Judges of the High Court established by an Act of Parliament come within the ambit of Section 14 of the Act of 2013, in the affirmative. No more and no less. In that, we have not looked into or examined the merits of the allegations at all.”

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant and A.S. Oka took cognisance of the Lokpal’s orders on Wednesday (January 19) and heard the matter on Thursday (February 20).

This report, first published at 11 pm on February 19, was updated with the news of the order a day later, at 11 am on February 20. 

Manipur Governor to Operate From Secretariat Thrice a Week: Report

The announcement has raised quite a few eyebrows because under the established practice, Governors operate from the Raj Bhawan.

New Delhi: Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla has decided to operate from the state secretariat in Imphal thrice a week, with the announcement raising quite a few eyebrows because under the established practice, Governors operate from the Raj Bhawan.

“Office of the minister of education will be used by the governor. Another ministerial office will be used by his advisers. Several offices in the old and new secretariat are closed,” said a senior government official, reported The Economic Times.

Manipur is presently under President’s Rule since the resignation of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh.

Bhalla, who is a former Union Home Secretary, was appointed as the new Manipur governor in December last year.

The ethnic conflict in Manipur between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities, which began in May 2023, has led to the displacement of hundreds of families, the destruction of homes, and a growing humanitarian crisis. Reports of targeted killings, arson, and sporadic gunfire became more frequent, further deepening the communal divide.

At least 258 deaths have also been reported across Manipur since the conflict began. The protracted violence has also led to widespread economic disruptions, with blockades and transport restrictions affecting the supply of essential goods, worsening the humanitarian impact.

Freebie Charge Is an Assault on Social Welfare and Rights of Citizens

The word ‘freebies’ reflects the class privilege of those using the term, including members of the judiciary, industrialists, business executives, journalists or people occupying high positions who deride social welfare schemes even as they themselves receive all kinds of benefits.

During a hearing on civil writ petitions pertaining to provision of adequate shelter facilities to homeless persons in urban areas, Supreme Court Justice B.R. Gavai chose to criticise the practice of freebies for harming the national work ethic.

He reportedly said: “Unfortunately, because of these freebies, which come on the anvil of the elections…some Ladki Bahin and some other scheme, people are not willing to work…Because of the freebies in Maharashtra, which were just announced prior to the elections, the agriculturalists are not getting labourers. When everybody is getting free rations at home, why would they want to work?”

Justice Gavai described homeless people as “parasites” and their demands for decent shelters, rations, and health as freebies on the assumption that they are unwilling to work. He cites no evidence for this claim. Nor does he seek to find whether the jobs being offered provide decent wages and even then people prefer not to work. His criticism also does not cite any evidence to show that cash transfers prevent people from working since they can just sit at home, do nothing and collect their freebie. These comments are based on anecdotal and personal experience. Contrary to this, economists have found no systematic evidence that cash transfer programmes reduce the propensity to work or the overall number of hours worked for by either men or women.

To think that a monthly cash transfer of Rs. 2000-3000 is enough to make the poor lazy defies logic and reason. He also singled out the policy of free rations as a reason for labourers not going to work. But the free ration given to an individual is just 5 kgs for the entire month and that too primarily cereals. This is less than the average individual cereal consumption in India estimated to be 9 kg a month. If labourers are indeed not going to work, this is not because of free rations, they are just not getting decent wages for agricultural work. The latest Economic Survey points to stagnating or decreased rural wages.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has found that there is a stark lack of decent employment opportunities in India. Cash transfers have been offered because severe unemployment afflicts the capitalist world, including India. Employment generation is a big concern of the Indian economy. It is not that people don’t want to work, if that was the case, lakhs of people wouldn’t be queuing up to apply for the small number of public sector jobs advertised now and then by the government. For example, for a total of about 1.4 lakh vacancies for various categories of staff in Indian Railways, more than 2.40 crore candidates had applied in 2020. Railways screened 22.5 lakh applicants to recruit 18,799 assistant loco pilots in 2024. Air India recruitment drive for airport loaders led to a stampede-like situation as a massive crowd of job seekers thronged the Mumbai airport in July 2024.

Similarly, huge numbers of workers are registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGS). As of October 2023, approximately 13.2 crore active workers were registered under this scheme, while the total number of registered workers is much higher. This shows that people are not reluctant about seeking productive labour or agricultural jobs when they become available. Yet, the budget for MGNREGS has not been increased, leading to pending wages and suppression of work. This scheme was allocated Rs 86,000 crore in the 2025-26 Union Budget. This is the same amount as the 2024-25 budget allocation.

Many of the so-called freebies are a constitutional requirement for social and economic justice in a country that is ranked among the most unequal countries in the world. The World Inequality Database shows that economic inequality in India was higher than the colonial period, and termed it as a Billionaire Raj. However, the ruling party has repeatedly dismissed the concerns of growing economic disparity by giving a corrosively communal colour to wealth redistribution as witnessed in during the toxic election campaign for the Lok Sabha elections last year. India has not even been able to ensure that all its people receive basic food and nutrition, healthcare, housing, educational access, etc. In most other countries, universal access to reasonable quality goods and services that constitute basic needs is seen as the responsibility of the state, these are not viewed as freebies. We need to ensure basic needs for all citizens by shifting to a system of constitutionally guaranteed economic rights which can be financed by wealth and inheritance taxes.

More importantly, if the political process compels parties to respond to basic needs, this must be welcomed, especially in the case of women related schemes. Political parties may manipulate a right as a benefit for electoral considerations. But to accuse women of not being willing to work because of modest cash transfers or welfare schemes is doing injustice to women’s work. It is also factually incorrect as a large majority of women are already working, doing unpaid work in the domestic sphere and also often unpaid work in family enterprises, including in agricultural operations. According to a State Bank of India (SBI) survey of 2023-24, if the extent of women’s unpaid work is monetised, it would amount to a mammoth 22 lakh crore rupees a year, which would be around seven per cent of the GDP that year. Thus it is not that women are not working, but that they are working without any remuneration.

The word freebies reflects the class privilege of those using the term, including members of the judiciary, industrialists, business executives, journalists or people occupying high positions who deride social welfare schemes as freebies even as they themselves receive all kinds of benefits.

The government recently announced a slew of extra retirement benefits for Chief Justices of India and Supreme Court judges (not to be confused with freebies). Similarly, tax cuts given to the corporate sector are not to be confused with freebies. Even as many welfare schemes are seen as wasteful, there is predictable silence over the billions of rupees worth of bad loans, owed to the public sector banks, being written off the banks’ balance sheets.

There can’t be a better example of freebies than the write-offs of non-performing assets (NPAs) of large corporate loans in the last few years paid for by Indian taxpayers.

The main reason for cash transfer is simply this: the Indian economy under the current regime is not generating enough jobs. It is attempting to acquire political power without producing large employment opportunities, thus having to offer cash transfers to the people. But these transfers are inadequate compensation for the scarcity of employment and minimum wages. If transfers are to be stopped then the government must provide decent jobs to people in lieu of transfers. The failure to do so has made a vast majority of Indians pessimistic about joblessness in the country, according to the Mood of the Nation Survey of February 2025 conducted by India Today and C-Voter. Most of those surveyed felt that the unemployment situation in the country was very serious or somewhat serious. In this dismal situation, the aforesaid remarks by the highest court on social welfare schemes, constitute a political and ideological assault on the rights of the working people and the welfare state envisioned in the Constitution.

Zoya Hasan is Professor Emerita, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

How Fact-Checkers and Internet Sleuths Proved USAID’s Long History With Modi Government

AltNews cofounder Mohammed Zubair and one Aditya Ojha have dug up a series of public posts and releases by those in the Narendra Modi government, and its agencies and bodies, that go on to show that it worked pretty closely with USAID.

New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has raised questions over “foreign influence” and “deep state” ever since the newly constituted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the US, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, announced that the US would cancel the allocation of $21 million to improve voter turnout in India.

Because DOGE did not mention in its post on X which Indian body used to receive the funds, BJP’s ‘IT cell’ chief Amit Malviya and former minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar were among those who claimed that the money paved the way for the US to tamper with India’s electoral process.

BJP commentators drew attention to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2012 between the Election Commission and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, which was a partner of the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening to point fingers at Congress, which was in power at the Union government till 2014.

Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Sanjeev Sanyal said, “Would love to find out who received the US$21mn spent to improve ‘voter turnout in India'”, adding that “USAID is the biggest scam in human history.”

USAID or the United States Agency for International Development was set up by John F. Kennedy as an independent agency of the US government to administer civilian foreign aid and development assistance globally.

However, fact-checkers like Mohammed Zubair (co-founder of AltNews) and one Aditya Ojha who posts on X under the handle @thispodcastguy have dug up a series of public posts by those in the Narendra Modi government, and its agencies and bodies, that go on to show that it worked pretty closely with USAID.

Zubair posted a tweet by the national broadcaster All India Radio, announcing a new partnership under the SAMRIDH initiative between USAID and NITI Aayog, the thinktank established by the Modi government. “It will improve access to affordable and quality healthcare for vulnerable populations in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and rural and tribal regions,” the AIR tweet said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chairman of the NITI Aayog.

NITI Aayog head Amitabh Kant was quoted as having said that this model of “blended financing” has the potential to redefine development finance.

“Deep State Sir…. oh wait…,” wrote Zubair, referring to yet another 2022 tweet, this time by now Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Fadnavis said he was part of talks on collaborations “between USAID and MASHAV (Israeli Development Agency) in the development areas of agriculture, water, waste-water management in the state of Maharashtra.”

Zubair also pointed to a Reliance Foundation announcement of a joint effort with USAID to bridge the digital divide. “Over 3 lakh women and girls across 17 states in India are benefiting with support of 10 implementing partners of this initiative,” the Reliance Foundation said in its 2022 tweet.

One of Zubair’s most shared posts on the topic has been the screenshot of former BJP minister Smriti Irani speaking of the fact that she was the USAID ambassador in 2011.

Meanwhile, Aditya Ojha pointed out that Irani was a bit of a regular at USAID events even now and as recently as January 21.


Ojha pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own 2021 speech on his “dream” of seeing a tuberculosis-free India by 2025 (a deadline India will miss). As Ojha highlighted, the official release of the event noted that “representatives of Development Partners like BMGF and USAID were also present at the event.”

Ojha also unearthed a tweet by ANI from 2014, when Modi visited then US president Barack Obama in US and the USAID chief was one of the special invitees.

Ojha also dug up an official government press release from June 2023 recording an MoU signed between India and USAID. The meeting was chaired by Modi. The government portal says:

“The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today was apprised of signing of Memorandum of Understanding between India and United States for International Development/India (USAID/India) on June 14, 2023 for supporting Indian Railways to achieve Mission Net Zero Carbon Emission by 2030.”

It also notes: “Earlier, USAID/India had also worked with IR focused on deployment of rooftop solar across railway platforms.”

Ojha, who said he had “hundreds” of posts bookmarked also posted how the external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s son Dhruv recorded USAID assistance among steps announced by US government to assist India on COVID-19.

A video clip shared by journalist Umashankar Singh, of a former White House press secretary announcing USAID dispatches to India during COVID “at the request of the government of India” has been shared multiple times. The flights sent to India included oxygen, N-95 masks and tests. “These are all components that the Indian government has expressed a vital need for,” she is heard saying.

The assistance USAID provided India was more than $100 million, she says.

Punjab Man Meant to Be on Deportation Flight ‘Hospitalised’, Family Has No Official Word

Navdeep Singh’s family have spent Rs 50 lakhs over two failed ‘dunki’ attempts.

Jalandhar: Navdeep Singh was to return on a US military flight on February 15. His family from the Chak Ghubaya Taranwala village of Ferozepur district in Punjab arrived at Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport well ahead of time.

This was the second deportation aircraft that reached India from the US. In it, undocumented Indians were shackled over the course of an over 60-hour journey. A total of 332 Indians have been deported in three US military flights.

But Navdeep was not on the plane. His family was worried.

“We have no idea about our son’s return, as there is no information about further US deportation flights yet. There is nobody whom we can approach for clarity,” said Navdeep’s father Kashmir Singh. Kashmir has heard from two other deported men – Saurav from Ferozepur district and Gursewak from Rajpura in Patiala – that Navdeep was not on the plane because of his ill health. He was suffering from fever, cough and dizziness and was taken to a hospital, they told Kashmir. There has been no official word yet.

Navdeep had entered the US on January 27, 2025. This was his second illegal or dunki attempt. He travelled from Malaysia to Guatemala to reach the US. In July 2024, he had attempted to enter the US from Mexico, but by November, he had returned to India after failing.

After promises by his agent, Navdeep made the January attempt but was arrested and taken to the Tijuana camp on the US-Mexico border  and made to wait for deportation.

Navdeep’s father Kashmir, who works as a confectioner in the village, told The Wire that he has sold his one-acre agricultural land and his two buffaloes, and mortgaged his house to send his son to the US. One of his cousins is already there.

The agent told Kashmir that his son will reach the US legally via flights. The exercise will take Rs 42 lakh, he said. Later, the agent asked for Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.

“I had no money to pay further but the agent kept demanding more and I ended up selling everything. I also borrowed some money from my relatives,” Kashmir said.

Also read: The Tortuous Routes Some Indians Are Taking to Get to Foreign Shores

When Navdeep first left for the US in July 2024, Kashmir paid Rs 30 lakh to the agent. When he had to return home in November 2024, the agent sought Rs 15 lakh for Navdeep’s second trip, this time from Malaysia. He also asked for Rs 5 lakh to pay Navdeep’s guarantor in the US.

“When the agent sent my son for a second US dunki, Donald Trump (then the presidential candidate) was repeatedly saying that he will act strictly against illegal immigrants. I told the agent that I do not want to send my son to the US. However, he kept telling me that there was nothing to worry about and that he had also arranged a guarantor to bring my son out of jail in the US. At one point during his dunki, I had to pay around Rs 4,400 every second day for my son’s food as the donkers did not give him anything to eat. I ended up spending Rs 3 lakh more,” he said.

Kashmir said that it would have been better had his son completed his graduation instead of going to the US. “He had just taken admission in BA first year at Guru Nanak College, Ferozepur, when he came across this agent and decided to go to the US. The problem is that there are no jobs and good salaries here. Above all, drug menace was a huge problem in Punjab. We thought that sending him to the US would bring an end to our woes,” Kashmir said.

Navdeep’s paternal uncle Jagir Singh also said that before boarding the US military plane, all the deportees were medically examined. “That is when they took my nephew back for treatment. We do not know when he will come back. Navdeep’s family, particularly his mother, is not in a good condition. She has been crying endlessly for her son. We are waiting for some information about the next deportation flight,” he said.

Also read: Three Things About India that Shackled Indians Returning Home Tell Us

US deportee lodges FIR against farmer union leader for duping him of Rs 45 lakh

Meanwhile, Jaswinder Singh from Pandori Arian village of the Moga district who was deported from the US has lodged an FIR against a Punjab-based farmer union leader for duping him of Rs 45 lakh in the name of sending him to the US via a dunki route. Jaswinder entered the US on January 27, 2025 and reached Amritsar on February 15, 2025.

The farmer union leader, he alleged, promised him a US visa but instead sent him with a Schengen visa to Prague. Jaswinder returned home in the second flight which landed in Amritsar on the night of February 15, 2025.

The FIR has been lodged against BKU Totewal state president Sukhwinder Singh Gill alias Sukh Gill, his mother Pritam Kaur and relatives Talwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh under sections 143, 318 (4), 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 24 of The Emigration Act.

Sukhwinder Singh Gill is also a member of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of farmers’ union which led the farmers’ protest against the now-repealed farm laws in 2020 and 2021.

According to the FIR, Sukhwinder was running an immigration agency – Fateh Immigration – at Dharamkot in Moga district. Jaswinder stated that when he consulted Sukhwinder about his plans to move abroad, he advised Jaswinder go legally – on flights. The FIR also mentioned that Sukhwinder even promised a three-year work permit to Jaswinder in the US and demanded Rs 45 lakh for the same.

In November 2024, Gill took Jaswinder, who has studied till Class 10 to an office at a shopping mall in Chandigarh. Sukhwinder allegedly told him that it was the ‘US Embassy Office’ and sought Rs 14,000 in fees for some initial documentation.

As per the FIR, after some days, Sukhwinder told Jaswinder that his US visa had arrived and that his flight was on December 12, 2024. It was only when Jaswinder boarded his flight from Delhi and reached Prague that he got to know that he had a Schengen visa and not a US one.

At Prague, the youth was held captive at a hotel by Sukhwinder’s aides, who demanded more money from him and also made him speak to Sukhwinder through WhatsApp calls. Later, he was asked to transfer Rs 4 lakh to another person’s account, he alleged. Jaswinder also had to make two other transactions of Rs 2 lakh each.

From Prague, the complainant was sent to Spain and from Spain to El Salvador during which he again paid Rs 3.50 lakh. Finally, he was sent through the Panama jungle to enter the US. He was arrested by the US border police.

The Wire tried to contact Sukhwinder Singh Gill but his phone was switched off and as per reports, the farmer union leader was on the run.

‘Fell on Stairs, Cops No Help, Slapped by Hospital Staff’: NDLS Stampede Victims Recount Night of Horror

Medical expenses, trauma and broken dreams unite the families who lost loved ones at a Delhi railway station on February 15.

New Delhi: “He was very religious. He used to chant Hanuman Chalisa every morning. On the day of the incident also, he prayed, but Hanuman ji didn’t save his life.”

These are the words of Manju Kushwaha, wife of Manoj, who died at the New Delhi Railway Station stampede on the night of February 15. 

Manoj, a resident of Chanchal Park in Delhi’s Nangloi, was 47 years old and among the 18 people who lost their lives in the stampede. His household now comprises a grieving wife and their two sons, Prince and Sachin. On the morning of the day he died, Manoj had dropped off Sachin at the exam centre for his Class 10 boards.

“He used to say that both children have to get properly educated,” said Manju. Manoj was the sole breadwinner of the family and would cycle 36 kilometres twice a day, to and from his workplace where he worked as welder.

His elder son Prince (19) is pursuing a Bachelor’s of Commerce from Satyawati College of Delhi University. He said he only got to know about his father’s demise the next morning, when his body came in an ambulance. “Papa wanted me to become a Chartered Accountant,” he said.

Sachin (15) said his father hoped he would become an engineer. “But I don’t want to. I used to tell him I will become a teacher when I grow up,” he added. 

Manoj Kushwaha with his wife Manju during Chhath Puja celebrations at Nangloi, Delhi. Photo: By arrangement.

For the family, this loss is devastating. “We had voted for Modi ji to see this day?” asks Manju.

Manju said that she was not allowed by police officers to speak to the media at LNJP hospital in Delhi where the body of her husband was brought. She now has only one request, that her children get government jobs.

Also read: Ground Report: Chaos at LNJP Hospital After New Delhi Railway Station Stampede

In the same stampede that killed Manoj, two of his neighbours who were accompanying him were severely injured.

Lal Babu Kushwaha (27), a resident of Bihar’s Siwan has been living in Delhi for the last eight months. He was on Platform 14 of the railway station when the stampede took place. Unable to walk, he was carried away by police personnel. At LNJP, his x-ray revealed that he has suffered an injury in his right leg, in the kneecap area. 

Lal Babu is now bedridden after he suffered serious injury in his right leg during the stampede. Photo: Syed Abubakr and Sumit Singh.

Lal Babu is also a welder and earns nearly Rs 16,000 a month. “I have two young children. I can’t go to work anymore. I don’t know how I’ll be able to feed them. I also have to bear my own medical expenses now,” he said. Compensation is relief but not enough, he said.

While Manoj’s family got Rs 10 lakh in cash, Lal Babu got Rs 2.5 lakh for his injuries.

“Officials came home and made us sign some documents and verified my identity from my Aadhaar card. They also made two other family members sign on a paper as witnesses that the amount has been received by me,” he said. 

Their neighbour Tuntun Bhagat (35) complains that the Railways did not do justice to his injured wife Neetu (30) as her injuries are not visible or as evident as those of Lal Babu. “She has inner injuries. She can’t stand for long and needs support to walk,” says Bhagat adding that the Railways only gave her Rs 1 lakh in cash as compensation as they considered her injuries to be minor. 

Tuntun Bhagat with his injured wife Neetu. Photo: Syed Abubakr and Sumit Singh.

Parents of two children, Tuntun and Neetu had wanted to take a holy dip in the Kumbh and were travelling with their neighbours. Tuntun said there were 11 people in total in the group and among them, four men and one child. All of them survived except Manoj Kushwaha. 

“On February 15, we reached platform 16 at around 7 pm. Three Prayagraj trains came and went but we couldn’t board any as there was no space. Then we heard an announcement that said a train to Prayagraj was coming on platform 12. We rushed there. A train came but it was, again, crowded. We let it go and waited on the platform,” Tuntun said.

“Another announcement was heard – one Prayagraj-bound train is going to come on platform 16. We started climbing the foot over-bridge, which was more crowded than the train coaches. We reached the entrance of platform 14-15, and decided to go down as the entrance of platform 16 was still a few steps away. There were only two police personnel who were managing a crowd of hundreds of people,” he added.

Tuntun alleged that a policeman’s action led to Manoj’s death.

“On the side of the stairs which led to platform 14, one of the policemen – in order to disperse the crowd from the foot overbridge – gave a push to Manoj. He fell on the stairs. I fell on him and Lal Babu fell on us. My wife also fell down. We felt like we were being buried alive. The crowd crush happened on the stairs, not on the platform,” Tuntun said. 

The situation persisted for over half-an-hour with no sign of help from Delhi Police or Indian Railways, he claimed. Manoj passed away in his arms, Tuntun said. “I won’t survive,” Manoj said, according to Tuntun.

“We carried his body from platform 14 to outside the railway station. We crossed over to platform 15 and jumped on empty tracks and moved towards platform 16. There, a train was stationed. We requested people inside the AC coach to open the door so we can use it as a passage. They helped and we carried the body through that train to platform 16 and then towards the exit gate,” he added. 

“Police were there outside the railway station but offered no help. I saw an ambulance stationed outside. I pleaded with them and they took Kushwaha’s body to Lady Hardinge Medical College, where he was declared brought dead,” Bhagat further said.

What transpired at LHMC was traumatic as well. Tuntun alleged he was slapped by a staff of LHMC. “I said, ‘Give us the body now that he’s no more. If you are keeping the body in hospital, let one of us stay here with the body.’ But the staff forcefully removed us from that area and asked us to move out. He slapped me four times,” Tuntun alleged. 

Usha Devi was in the ambulance which ferried Manoj Kushwaha to Lady Hardinge Medical College. Photo: Syed Abubakr and Sumit Singh.

Tuntun’s sister Usha (35), who has also been living in Delhi for the last eight years, accompanied him to the railway station for the Kumbh trip and later to the hospital. She claimed that the LHMC staff also threatened her. “He threatened to slap me after slapping Tuntun. I told him, ‘If you have the guts to slap me, then do it.’ We didn’t move an inch away and stood firm with the body. We refused to leave,” she said. 

Manoj’s body was the first to be ferried away in an ambulance from the site. His family claims that when his body came home, they paid Rs 2,200 to the ambulance.  

Seventy-year-old Asha died in the stampede. She hailed from Bihar’s Buxar. Her son Anubhav Sahay, who was also injured in the incident and resides in Noida, told The Wire that he has done the last rites of his mother in the city itself.

One Manoj Shah, who lives in Delhi lost his 15-year-old daughter Suruchi, father-in-law Vijay Shah and mother-in-law Krishna Devi in the stampede. His wife and brother-in-law have also suffered injuries.

RPF report

Meanwhile, an inquiry by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), a copy of which is with The Wire, states that 20 people were killed in the stampede on the night of February 15 at New Delhi Railway Station. This is two more than the figure of 18 released by the Indian Railways earlier. However, the RPF report has no list of names of the dead. It said that after the Shivganga Express left the station from platform 12, there was a sudden overcrowding that choked foot over-bridges 2 and 3 and caused a jam at platforms 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16.

The RPF report also said that an announcement was made at 8:45 pm that a Kumbh Special train going to Prayagraj was arriving at platform 12 and shortly afterwards, a second announcement was made that said the Kumbh Special train was arriving at platform 16. The report said that this made people rush to platform 16 and caused the stampede.

At the same time, as people were rushing to platform 16, the Magadh Express was on platform 14 and Uttar Sampark Kranti train was on platform 15, which were between platforms 12 and 16, according to the report. The report said the stampede was reported by the RPF staff at 8:48 pm. 

Almost two-and-half hours later – at 11:16 pm – the news agency ANI posted on X quoting the CPRO of the Northern Railways who said, “There is no stampede. It is only a rumour. Northern Railways was running two planned special trains (for Prayagraj).” 


This reaction, hours after the incident took place, has angered many. Instead of acknowledging what had transpired – now codified in detail in the RPF report – the Indian Railways had tried to cover it up. 

Communal efforts at work

Amid all this, a video on X related to the incident has gained massive traction. Posted by an account named Kreately Media, the caption reads, “Some people started shouting Allahu Akbar on platform & pushing all of us. My friend Ayush died & my hand is badly bruised. Horrific facts by eye witness Shivam Shukla.” 

None of the eye witnesses or victims of the stampede corroborated the claims of religious sloganeering.

Further, Shivam Shukla claimed that his friend Ayush has died. This name does not appear in the list of the dead or injured.

Shivam Shukla’s name was on the list of injured at LNJP hospital and he has been paid Rs. 1 lakh as compensation. When we dialled his number, it was switched off. The video has nearly 7 lakh impressions and 18,000 ‘likes’ on X alone. 

UP Legislators Can Now Speak in Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bundelkhandi, Braj. Why Not Urdu, Asks Opposition

When confronted with the question of Urdu’s omission, chief minister Adityanath passed a communally laced comment against the language.

New Delhi: Legislators in Uttar Pradesh can now speak and listen to the translation of their speeches in the assembly in four regional dialects and English in addition to Hindi.

These dialects are Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bundelkhandi and Braj Bhasha, spoken in Awadh (central UP), Purvanchal (eastern UP), Bundelkhand and the western UP regions of the state, respectively.

However, the opposition Samajwadi Party has objected to the inclusion of English and the omission of Urdu from the list that was set in motion from the ongoing budget session of the state assembly.

Urdu, UP’s second official language, is widely spoken across the state, especially by its Muslim population. Around one-fifth of the state’s population is Muslim.

However, when confronted with the question of the omission of Urdu, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday (February 18) passed a communally laced comment against the language.

“They will educate their children in English schools, but if the government wants to provide this facility for the children of others, they say, ‘teach them Urdu!’, meaning they want to make them maulvis. They want to take the country towards kathmullapan. This cannot work,” said Adityanath in the assembly.

Kathmulla, which roughly means bigoted, is popularly understood as a religious slur against Muslims. Adityanath has used the controversial word to refer to Muslims several times in the past.

The discussion on the languages started with speaker Satish Mahana informing MLAs that they could now also speak in Awadhi, Braj, Bundelkhandi, Bhojpuri and English and also be provided audio translations for them.

The four regional dialects were introduced so that the common citizen can also understand the proceedings of the assembly and “directly connect” with it, said Mahana.

He also said that the government’s move was aimed at increasing the “prestige” of these languages nationally and globally as well as “increase the respect” for these “endangered languages”.

Mata Prasad Pandey, senior Samajwadi Party MLA and leader of the opposition, was quick to raise an objection over the use of English, which he felt would weaken Hindi, the official language of the state.

“I am not against any regional language. But using English in the Vidhan Sabha is not justified,” said Pandey, referring to the long history and movement of establishing Hindi as the official language.

“If you are okay with English, then why not Urdu? It is also a language,” Pandey said, adding that “there is an attempt to weaken Hindi by introducing English.”

He also argued that people in rural UP did not understand English.

Adityanath misrepresented Pandey’s objection to English and accused the opposition of opposing regional dialects and advocating for Urdu.

“You Samajwadis have double standards. You send your children to English public schools but ask others’ children to study in that village school which does not even have basic amenities,” said Adityanath.

Shivpal Yadav, senior Samajwadi Party leader, criticised Adityanath for his comments on Urdu.

“Why are you so troubled by Urdu? Does not the constitution speak about providing respect to every language?” asked Shivpal.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that “if those who create divisions in society by attacking others on the basis of language have the ability, then they should develop such world class schools in UP that people do not send their children abroad for studies”.

But, he added in his X post, “for this, a global perspective will have to be developed. How can those who have visited only one or two countries till date have such a broad perspective that they will be able to do such a great job?”

EC Emerging as ‘Convenient Scapegoat’, Says Rajiv Kumar at End of Contentious Tenure as CEC

Kumar, whose 4.5-year tenure spanned “one full electoral cycle”, faced criticism for the erosion of the poll body’s independence.

New Delhi: Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar, who demitted office on Tuesday (February 18), said that the Election Commission and election officials have emerged as a “convenient scapegoat” and that a “pressing concern is the growing tendency to target election officials in the aftermath of electoral contests”.

In his farewell address on February 17 – his last full day in office – Kumar said that he had observed a “pattern in the timing of certain narratives” during peak polling or counting hours, including fake allegations that mislead people, while the Commission follows a policy of restraint.

Kumar, who oversaw the conduct of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, has faced criticism during his tenure about the eroding independence of the Election Commission and its credibility as an impartial and independent body.

In his farewell address, Kumar said that the Commission is “unfairly blamed” by those “unwilling to accept electoral outcomes” and the poll body has become a “convenient scapegoat”.

“The Commission, as an institution, often finds itself unfairly blamed by those unwilling to accept electoral outcomes. A pressing concern is the growing tendency to target election officials in the aftermath of electoral contests. It is perceived as a convenient scapegoat,” he said.

He earlier made similar remarks in October, following questions from the Congress alleging irregularities in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and their batteries during the counting of votes for the Haryana assembly elections.

Calling the EVMs ”safe” and “robust”, Kumar had said: “It cannot be that when the results don’t suit you, then it is working wrongly.”

Following the Maharashtra assembly elections, opposition parties from the state  questioned how there were more voters in Maharashtra than its adult population.

“All candidates and parties are involved in every stage of the process with utmost transparency. Having participated in each step, without raising objections or filing appeals during the process, then attempting to create doubt afterward is undesirable. Dialogue should always be the preferred approach and while the Commission reacts with sagacity, stoicism and restraint, this is a disturbing trend and should be abandoned soon,” said Kumar on Monday.

Kumar also said he had “observed a pattern in the timing of certain narratives”.

“During peak polling or counting hours, a wave of fake allegations and rumors begins to spread across media and social media, misleading people and creating confusion. Narratives are deliberately set to distort facts. However, the Commission follows a policy of restraint, choosing not to respond while the election process is underway, ensuring that focus remains on the integrity and smooth conduct of the elections.”

Kumar’s four-and-a-half years in office have been described by the Election Commission in its farewell note as spanning “one full electoral cycle with conduct of elections in 31 States/UTs, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections 2022, Lok Sabha elections 2024 and Rajya Sabha renewals.”

However, he faced increasing questions of independence during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the poll body’s inaction on divisive speeches delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In his farewell speech however, Kumar said that a “concerning trend” had emerged “with political discourse increasingly becoming such that scars are left even after campaign period”.

“A concerning trend has emerged in recent years, with political discourse increasingly becoming such that scars are left even after campaign period. This not only lowers the quality of debate, but also risks disillusioning our youth with the electoral process.

“Should we not strive for a more constructive and dignified dialogue? Should political parties not focus on issue-based debates? Should political parties not take responsibility for encouraging youth participation through their campaigns? These are the questions political parties must introspect,” he said.