Kharge demands statement from Amit Shah or J P Nadda on Hathras tragedy, says law needed to deal with 'fake' godmen

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday suggested that a law should be enacted to deal with "fake" godmen and to ensure that Hathras-like stampedes are not repeated.

He was speaking after Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar made an obituary reference to the Hathras incident in which over 100 people who had gone to a 'satsang' (religious gathering) died in a stampede.

Dhankhar suggested that there should be a discussion in the Rajya Sabha in the next session on how to avoid such stampedes, and that the ruling side has indicated that they are mulling a law.

Kharge said there are incidents of people gathering for religious gatherings in "blind faith" organised by godmen and there is no law to regulate it. "Such gatherings are held by many and there is no regulation where to organise it, how much area it should be organised on, how the access control is, where the nearest hospital should be etc," he said.

People are flocking to such gatherings without knowing these and then such big incidents are happening, he said adding some of the "fake" godmen are now in jail.

"Like the incident that happened at the Hathras satsang, there is no law in place to ensure the safety of people at such events. Therefore, laws should be made to protect people in such programmes. It is important that laws be made against 'blind faith' like Karnataka and Maharashtra so that fake people who loot people for money can be banned," he said demanding a statement from either Home Minister Amit Shah or Leader of House J P Nadda on the Hathras incident.

Dhankhar said Nadda had indicated about the government's intention during a meeting in his chamber. "What the Leader of Opposition has suggested is important...We should work together so that such incidents, which are avoidable, are avoided," he added.

The incident in Hathras happened on Tuesday when devotees of 'Bhole Baba', who is a former UP police personnel Surajpal Singh, tried to reach near the dais after the programme to have a closer look at him.