Indian preacher at centre of deadly crowd crush: ‘Who can change the inevitable?’

Stampede at Suraj Pal’s prayer meeting in northern India killed at least 121 people earlier this month

Hindu preacher Suraj Pal’s portrait is displayed at his ashram in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, on 4 July 2024 (AFP via Getty)

The Indian preacher at the centre of a massive crowd crush that killed 121 people earlier this month has stirred a controversy by saying that no one could change destiny.

“Who can change the inevitable? Everyone who enters this world has to leave one day,” Suraj Pal, known among his followers as Bhole Baba, told local reporters. “Only the time is uncertain.”

In an interview with IANS news agency, he claimed that the stampede at his event left him in “deep depression”.

He previously said he was “deeply saddened” by the 2 July incident which occurred during a satsang, or prayer meeting, in Hathras, 200km southeast of the national capital Delhi, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

A preliminary investigation found that thousands more people than permitted had turned up at the event and, as it got over, hundreds of them attempted to collect dust the preacher had walked on before he left the venue.

Mr Pal’s prayer meeting had permission for 80,000 people but let in about 250,000, which authorities said led to the crush.

While some of the event’s organisers have been arrested, Bhole Baba has not been named in the police case or questioned.

The preacher has denied any involvement, alleging a conspiracy against him.

Relatives of the victims and other citizens have been demanding his arrest and criticising the lack of any legal action against him.

On X, one user said: “100% scot-free. Will likely do another satsang soon.”

Another wrote: “That’s how 99.9 religious preachers think about their own followers...They just use these followers to earn money and fame.”

“Why do people follow these scammers?” wrote another.

Mr Pal reportedly left his job as a police constable in the late 1990s, christened himself Narayan Sakar Vishwa Hari and became a Hindu religious preacher.

The self-styled “godman” claimed to resurrect the dead and even attempted to take a 16-year-old girl’s body from a crematorium, promising her family a miracle, police told Reuters.

His lawyer AP Singh earlier said Bhole Baba had arrived at his ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj area.

“He has reached his ashram and will stay here. He came here from another ashram. He was never at anyone’s place or any hotel or other country,” Mr Singh said.

The Uttar Pradesh state government has formed a Special Investigation Team and a judicial commission to investigate the stampede.

“Please keep faith in the government and the administration. I have faith that anyone who created the chaos would not be spared,” the preacher earlier told ANI.