'Those killed in Maha Kumbh stampede attained moksha': Hindu seer Dhirendra Shastri's remark triggers row

Lucknow: Controversial Hindu seer and religious preacher Dhirendra Shastri triggered a controversy after he said that those, who were killed in Wednesday’s stampede at the Maha Kumbh, had attained ‘moksha’ (salvation).

‘’Jo Ganga kinare marega to woh marega nahin, moksha payega...woh mare nahin hain’’ (whosoever dies on the bank of the Ganga are not actually dead...they will get moksha), Dheerendra Shastri, who was popularly known as ‘Bageshwar Dham Baba, said at a religious event in Mahakumbh on Friday.

‘’So many people are dying in the country daily owing to lack of medicine...from heart attacks....everyone will die one day,’’ he remarked.

Shastri also heaped praise on the state government for what he said managed to control the situation within a few minutes.

Shastri’s remarks triggered sharp reactions from some other seers, who slammed him for being ‘insensitive’ and even suggested that he himself could attain ‘moksha’ by opting to ‘die’ at the Mahakumbh.

‘’I am ready to help him (Shastri) get moksha in this way if he wants,’’, Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwarananda said.

‘’It is very easy to say this (those who died attained moksha).....think of the mothers, children, the elders who were trampled to death in the stampede,’’ he remarked.

Avimukteshwaranada had earlier raised questions on the figures of the dead released by the state government and even demanded resignation of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Well known Bhojpuri folk singer Neha Rathore also slammed Shastri over his remarks. ‘’This Baba (Shastri) says that those dying on the bank of the Ganga will get moksha...why didn’t he himself jump into the Ganga?’’ she said in a post on his social media account.

As many as 30 devotees were killed and dozens others injured in a stampede near Sangam on Wednesday during the second Amrit Snan on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya.