Stampede-Like Situation; No Masks or Social Distancing at Congress Women’s Marathon in UP

While no one was hurt and the stampede largely avoided, the event saw thousands of people gather without any COVID protocols being enforced, even as the country recorded 58,000 new COVID infections that day.

New Delhi: A stampede-like situation almost occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly on Tuesday, January 4 at a ‘women’s marathon’ organised by a Congress leader, NDTV reported.

Hundreds of women and young girls had gathered to participate in the five km run as part of the Congress’s ‘ladki hun, lad sakti hun’ (‘I’m a woman, I can fight’) campaign. When the run was about to begin, however, several participants comprising the front row tripped and fell and were almost trampled by the members behind them.

While NDTV reported that no one suffered any injuries, the Times of India claimed that several children were injured and that three were even taken to the hospital, claiming, however, that they were discharged after receiving first aid. The newspaper also put the attendance figure at around 5,000.

There was, however, cause for concern at the gathering since virtually no one at the event could be seen properly wearing their masks and social distancing protocols were in no way enforced. Given the rapidly increasing cases of COVID-19 infections in the country, spurred by the highly transmissible omicron variant of the virus, such gatherings can lead to even greater infection tallies. 

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had tried to organise a similar marathon in Lucknow on December 26 as part of the same campaign, however, the Adityanath government in the state had denied permission to host this event, citing COVID protocols and the imposition of Section 144 in the state capital.

Supriya Aron, the Congress leader who organised the event, claimed that there was nothing to worry about and instead, drew attention to the large gatherings at Vaishno Devi which took place on Saturday. A stampede was observed at that shrine as well where 12 people were killed and many were injured.

Also read: 12 Dead, Several Injured in Stampede at Vaishno Devi Shrine in J&K

“These are schoolgirls and they only wanted to come out for a bit. But if anyone is offended for any reason, I want to apologise on behalf of the Congress,” NDTV quoted Aron as saying.

Bareilly district magistrate Manvendra Singh, however, sought for an FIR to be filed, according to the Times of India report.

Large-scale election campaigns and rallies are being held with increasing frequency in poll-bound states such as UP and Punjab, even amid rapidly rising coronavirus cases. India recorded around 58,000 cases on Tuesday with fresh cases doubling in only four days.

In her conversation with The Wire, Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of the South African Medical Association had said that allowing these large-scale gatherings where COVID protocols cannot be enforced is akin to playing with fire. 

South Africa has crossed the peak of its omicron wave of infections with cases and hospitalisations dwindling, yet social distancing and mask wearing are still required by law in the country.