Kumbh of 1954, death of 1000+ people and PM Nehru: To save whom was it called 'death of some beggars' - Know everything that the only journalist present saw and wrote

Kumbh Mela is organized every 12 years in the holy city of Prayagraj. A lot is being written and read about Prayagraj Mahakumbh 2025, but we are going to tell you about the first Kumbh Mela organized after independence, where Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad also reached. But their arrival was so unfortunate that more than 1000 people lost their lives and more than 2000 people were injured.

The reason for the death of about 1000 people was the stampede.. about which different claims are made at different places. However, we are publishing the most reliable eye-witness account, which has always been tried to hide.

Nehru connection of stampede in Kumbh 1954

India got independence in 1947. In 1954, Kumbh was to be organized for the first time in independent India in Prayag (then Allahabad). However, Ardh Kumbh had already been organized in 1948. Since Kumbh 1954 was being organized in Allahabad (now Prayagraj), the city of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru himself, Nehru also had a personal interest in it. But Nehru's decision to participate in the second Shahi Snan (Mauni Amavasya) led to piles of dead bodies in Prayag.

The Congress governments made every effort to suppress these incidents, even the government publicized the incident of 1000 people being killed by calling it the death of some 'beggars' and tried to suppress the reality, but the incident came to light due to a journalist of Anand Bihar magazine. The picture was also published as evidence. Despite this, the Congress tried to hide this incident with all its might. However, the then Chief Minister Govind Ballabh Pant, who was disappointed due to the incident, was very angry and used words like 'hara#$%da' for the journalist.

How did Kumbh 1954 take the lives of more than a thousand people?

This day was 3 February 1954… the occasion was the second royal bath of Kumbh i.e. Mauni Amavasya. Jawaharlal Nehru himself had reached Prayag and President Dr. Rajendra Prasad was with him. The time was around 10.20 in the morning, when Nehru ji and Rajendra Babu's car came from Triveni Road and crossed the barrier and moved towards Kila Ghat. During this time, a crowd gathered to see Nehru, so the crowd coming to the fair and the crowd leaving the fair came face to face. There was a stampede. People started falling down the ditch, and a big well nearby was filled with dead bodies.

Photojournalist NN Mukherjee, who was covering the fair for Ananda Bazar Patrika, has described these things in detail in his memoir published in a magazine named 'Chhayakriti' in the year 1989. Actually, the horror of the accident that happened in this fair was revealed by his photo. At the time of the accident, he was standing on a tower near Sangam Chowki.

He had told in his memoir that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Rajendra Prasad were to come to Sangam for bathing on the same day. Therefore, all the police and administrative officers were busy in preparations for their arrival. But at 10.20 am, when both of them moved towards Kila Ghat in a car, the crowd became uncontrollable. There were dead bodies everywhere. He himself climbed over many dead bodies and went ahead and took pictures.

Expressing surprise, he had written that despite this big incident, the top officials who were away from the accident spot were busy having tea and snacks at the government residence till 4 pm, and they did not even get information about this accident. When NN Mukherjee reached his office at around 1 pm, all the journalist colleagues including the editor expressed their happiness on his arrival and were surprised at his survival.

To avoid this matter making international headlines, the government of that time tried to dismiss it by saying that it was the death of some beggars. But NN Mukherjee presented those photographs in front of the officials, in which many women were wearing expensive clothes and jewellery, which clearly showed that the dead were not beggars, but they belonged to affluent families and were victims of government mismanagement.

The bodies of the people killed in this incident were not given to anyone, but were collectively burned in heaps. NN Mukherjee had told that he had somehow reached near those heaps of dead bodies. He held the feet of the policeman and told him that he wanted to see his “dead grandmother for the last time”, after which he was allowed to go near the bodies. Meanwhile, NN Mukherjee had secretly taken a picture of the bodies being burned collectively with a small camera.

Anand Bazar Patrika published the news of the accident along with the picture. Since very little news was published in other places, the Congress system was surprised how the picture of the accident got published. On seeing those pictures, Chief Minister Govind Ballabh Pant shouted, 'Where is this h$%#@fun%$ photographer.' NN Mukherjee said that learning a lesson from this big accident, the government started making arrangements for all the future Kumbh Melas months and years in advance. However, efforts to hide the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru during this incident are still going on.

PM Modi said the right thing from the stage, but the media gang is busy proving it wrong

There has always been an attempt to hide this entire incident. Facts are also presented in a distorted manner. In the year 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned this incident in a public meeting in Kaushambi. He clearly said that Prayagraj Kumbh was organized to hide and suppress the horrific incident of 1954. 

Efforts were made to hide the facts. After this, it seemed as if the pet media gang had found some fodder. Immediately witnesses were presented who had nothing to do with that place and 'hearsay' things were published to hide Jawaharlal Nehru's statement. Bhaskar had also published a report on this matter 12 years ago, but Nehru's involvement was hidden in that too. Let us tell you that after the accident, India Express had published the news of only 300 people being killed in this incident quoting government officials. Although Time magazine had said that 500 people were killed in the accident, but efforts were made to hide Nehru's presence from every side.

Photo of the Kumbh 1954 accident, which was taken by NN Mukherjee 
BBC Hindi also published a similar story, in which it tried to tell that the media of that time was very free. But it forgot NN Mukherjee and tried its best to prove that Jawaharlal Nehru was not the reason for that accident. Not only this, BBC also tried to establish the lie that Jawaharlal Nehru was not in Prayagraj at the time of the incident. However, it definitely tried to drag President Rajendra Prasad into the matter by saying that the stampede happened in front of him.