1954 Kumbh Melastampede was a stampede that occurred in 1954 at Kumbha Mela on 3 February 1954 in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh state in India. It was the main bathing day of Mauni Amavasya, when the incident took place. During the festival 4–5 million pilgrims had taken part that year, which was also the first Kumbh Mela after the Independence. The figures for the tragedy varied according to different sources. While The Guardian reported more than 800 people dead and over 100 injured, TIME reported "no fewer than 350 people were trampled to death and drowned, 200 were counted missing, and over 2,000 were injured". According to the book Law and Order in India over 500 were dead.
The occasion of 1954 Kumbh Mela was used by politicians to connect with the Indian populace prior to India's Independence, and as this was the first Kumbh Mela after Independence, with more than 5 million pilgrims in Allahabad for the 40-day festival, many leading politicians had visited the city during the event. Compounding the failure of crowd control measures was not just the presence of a large number of politicians, but also the fact that the Ganges River had changed course and moved in closer to the Bund and the city, reducing the available space of the temporary Kumbh township and restricting movement of the people. Ultimately what triggered the tragedy was that a surge of the crowd broke through the barriers separating them from a procession of sadhus and holy men of various akharas, resulting in a stampede. After the event, Prime MinisterJawahar Lal Nehru suggested that politicians and VIPs should refrain from visiting the Mela, who were all but exonerated along with the government of any wrongdoing after an inquiry. Not a single rupee of compensation was paid to the victims' families. The judicial inquiry commission, set up after what was one of the worst stampedes in India's history, was headed by Justice Kamala Kant Verma, and its recommendations became the basis for better management of future events in the coming decades. This tragedy has stood as a grim reminder to Mela planners and district administrators as crowds have progressively increased, so much so that 80–100 million people took part in the 2010 Kumbh Mela, making it the largest gathering anywhere in the world. Among the other Kumbh Mela stampedes, the most notable have been in the years 1840, 1906, 1954, 1986, 2003,2010 and in 2013.
There is a reference to the 1954 Kumbh Mela Stampede in the 1993 novel A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. In the novel, the event is called "Pul Mela" instead of "Kumbh Mela". In the novel written by Kalkut - 'Amrito Kumbher Sandhane', the tragedy of the stampede is highlighted along with reaction of the pilgrims. It was later made into a film.
