Crowd-mentality and the Stampede tragedies

By

S. Prabhakar

In the recent past, starting from Pushpa2 premier show Tragedy to the Maha Kumbh tragedy in Prayagraj, the cases of stampedes and loss of life and limb of innocent people including women and children have been on the rise.  

Some of the infamous stampede cases that resulted in tragic loss of life and grievous injuries that hogged limelight are:

 

1.       1  On 2^nd July 2024 in a religious gathering by Bhole Baba at Hathras District of UP – there was a stampede – it resulted in 116 people, mostly women and children losing their lives and 80 people were injured and admitted to hospitals

2.      2  A stampede occurred in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, in the first week of January 2025, as relatively a small crowd of five thousand gathered to secure tickets for a sacred event – it resulted in the death of 6 devotees and left many injured.   It’s an aberration to TDP, which handles lakhs of devotees on a daily basis right through the year.  

    

3.       3 A stampede at the Maha Kumbh on January 29th, 2025, when a large number of pilgrims reached the sacred Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj to take a holy dip on Mauni Amavasya  - at least 30 pilgrims died and 60 were injured 

4.   4 On15^th February 2025 a stampede occurred at New Delhi Railway Station by a sudden surge of passengers waiting to board trains for Prayagraj - at least 18 people, including five children, were killed and over a dozen were injured

5.       5 On 30 October 2022, a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi in Gujarat collapsed – resulted in the death of at least 141 people and injuries to more than 180 others

6.       6 In January 2022 a stampede took place at the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, after a huge crowd of devotees tried to enter the narrow shrine - at least 12 people died and many more were injured

7.       7 On 4^th December 2025 there was a stampede at Sandhya theatre during the premier show of Pushpa2 where the hero of the movie Allu Arjun came with family to watch the movie in the theatre along with fans.   – one woman died and her son was seriously injured.   It was covered on all papers and TV channels not due to the gravity of the tragedy compared to others but Allu Arjun was held responsible, rightly or wrongly and that remained the topic of discussion for over a month

These are a few of the many incidents of stampede incidents that happen at regular intervals  and precious lives of innocent people are lost

 

Why do stampede incidents happen?

Despite the best possible arrangements made and precautions taken by the administration responsible for the place/event, the reasons for the stampede incident happening at such regular intervals are

Population: Like most maladies, the reason for frequent stampede incidents is also attributable to the overblown population and even a minuscule percentage of them intend to visit a place or event it results in turnout in lakhs and in a few cases like Maha Khumb in crores.   

Thronging beyond capacity: Every place, venue and means of transport has its maximum capacity which it can bear.   But people throng such places, and venues and use the means of transport like buses, boats, trains etc., on important festival days, or some special shows quite unmindful of the capacity limitation of such places, venues and means of transport.   Leave alone illiterate, the most educated and so-called intellectuals never give a thought that if we stretch anything beyond its maximum capacity it will break down and may result in a stampede-like situation or freak accidents  The snapping up of a bridge in Gujarat, the boat tragedy in Kerala, due to overcrowding and tilting to one side, the stampede in New Delhi Railway station, due to people tripping at a foot overbridge and many more things can be attributed to these reasons only.   At the religious gathering in Hathras, about 250,000 people showed up for the event, which had permission for at most 80,000

Uncivilised, indisciplined and self-centred behaviour of the people: Howsoever large the crowd could be, howsoever inadequate the arrangements and crowd control by the administration, stampede incidents and unfortunate tragedies can be avoided if the people behave in a civilised, orderly and disciplined manner.    It's not very uncommon that we find people refusing to wear safety jackets, helmets and other safety equipment.   The operators/helpers on the boats, and rides give up after requesting a couple of times, but God forbid if some mishaps happen these people are held responsible and may be arrested as well as happened in the case of a gatekeeper of Balcony of Sandhya theatre who could hardly have done anything to avert the stampede that day.

Name a place in our day-to-day living like Departmental stores, hospitals, metro stations, bus stops, movie theatres, auditoriums and sports stadiums where we do not find people breaking and jumping Queues, trying to get ahead of others, pushing and jostling rather than standing in the Queue in an orderly manner for their turn to come which makes things easy for everyone.   Many times in departmental stores people standing with a lot of items put in a trolly standing in the Queue to make payment, and may be two people away from the payment counter, suddenly jump, push their trollies with lot of grocery items and create chaos the moment it is announced that two more counters are opened at the other end rather than standing in the same Queue for few more minutes and allow the people at the back to go to the newly opened counters.   There is no great or emergency work they have to attend after getting free.  Such behaviour comes out of the basic instinct and sick mentalty of going ahead of others out of turn by forcing their way or flexing muscles.  

Crowd creating and enjoying tendency: The main reason for every place and event right from religious congregations to musical shows, movies, and village fairs getting crowded unmanageably is the psychic of people to create/be part of the crowd and enjoy more being part of the crowd than really having interest and enjoying the proceedings.   It's fashionable and cool for people of all ages, right from children, youth, middle-aged and even old to boast off that they attended a music concert by some `firangi music troupe’ though they may not understand a word of it and are stupid enough not to make out that they are being fooled by the celebrated singers by not singing but lip syncing.   What makes people pay a bomb and go to such shows, but for this mentality only?  Even in Pushpa2 premier show, it was reported that the husband of the lady who unfortunately died in the stampede was doing a petty job at a salary of Rs. 30,000 per month but he could afford to pay Rs. 3000 per ticket for 3 people to catch the premier show.  Had he stayed for one day more and booked tickets in advance online,  he would have got it for Rs. 450 per ticket first day first show and might have avoided the rush and possibility of the stampede, and who knows still might be living happily with the wife.     The same goes for Ram Lilas, cricket and football matches, movie pre-release functions, political rallies, yoga camps and even religious gatherings.  

Whatever the organisers may publicise, all these events do not come only once in a lifetime including Kumbh Melas (except Maha Kumbh Mela).  In India on an average there is a cricket match every third day (if we include all IPL matches), every week there is a pre-release function of a movie, and every week there is a Satsang, the specific auspicious day in the week for Gods and Goddes (like Tuesday for Hanuman, Saturday for Lord Venkateswara, Thursday for Sai baba) come 52 times in a year and the list goes on.    So who says that you have to attend every one of them, If you have gone or taken your children to Ram Lila once or twice it should be good enough you need not go every year and crowd that place.     You may not get any special punya if you go to the Hanuman temple on Tuesdays only.  The Gods are the same and the temples are the same on other days also, go and see to yourself that on all other 6 days of the week, you do not find many.  

In fact, the popular Pavachankarta, Sahasravadhani and Padmashri awardee Shri Garikipati Narasimha Rao many times enlightened people that there is no significance of special days for any Gods and Goddesses and visit the temples on any day and you will get the same solace and Punya as on the so-called special days of the week.    He also said that people are doing the wrong thing and a disservice by going to all `Kumbh Melas’ all over India.   Accordingly, to him, Kumbh melas of different rivers which come once every 12 years is a process of cleaning and dredging the river by a large number of people taking baths there and only those who are living in that geographical area should go to the Kumbh Melas of nearest rivers and others should wait for the turn of Kumbh Mela of the river near to their place.   So it is more of cleaning of River rather than ourselves and all the `paap karmas’ done till that time are not going to be washed away by one dip in Kumbh Mela, allowing a person to open a new account on a clean slate.  If half of the Indian population wants to take a holy dip in Prayagraj going by the claims of the UP Government `once in 144 years’/lifetime experience’ braving huge inconvenience to females, children and senior citizens running the risk of losing life or limb in a stampede, and anything untoward incident happens they have no one except themselves to blame.

I can understand if young, athletic, energetic adventure-seeking men and women undertake such tough and taxing journeys.  But women with children, and old, frail, sick people also throng as if they are doing a sin if they do not go to such places is not understandable.   

 Not letting Police and Administration do their duties: It’s a gigantic and nightmarish task for police and Administration to Plan, put things in place, and manage such heavily crowded events which happen thick and fast.  Hardly a week passes in any big city of India where such events do not take place causing huge stress on the police and administration. Probably India must be the only country, where the Police do less of a policing job and more of a `Bandobash/security’ assignment.   In events like Maha Kumbh Melas, even paramilitary personnel are also deployed.     

As if it is not enough, the police and private security personnel including the bouncers are pushed to the limits to use force to control and mad and misbehaving crowd.    They are caught in a peculiar situation of ‘damned if you do and damned if you don't’.   If police or other security personnel use force they are criticised and condemned for using force without realising the fact that it is used as a last resort only after all their efforts to bring orderliness among the crowd fails and the situation warrants.   If they fear the backlash, and being exposed by the over-jealous and under-employed media it may lead to a stampede-like situation for which too they are blamed for dereliction of duty and not being able to control the crowd properly. 

If the crowds behave in a disciplined and orderly manner, follow the instructions, and signs boards, have the patience to wait for their turn, do not jump the Queue and do not display the `tu janta nahi main kaun hoon, arrogance attitude, it makes the life of Police and administration easy. 

Post stampede Tamasha and look for `the fall guys’

We are so used to such unfortunate incidents of stampedes and other accidents in which precious innocent lives are lost – from one person in Pushpa2 premier show stampede to over 116 in the Hathras incident, the tamasha that takes place is routine and oft-repeated and is as follows:

• Hundreds of news channels with 24-hour non-stop telecasts will take it as a windfall to take care of week to ten days quota of coverage 
• 
  
•  The Opposition swings to action if the State is ruled by the opposition party, blaming the Government for poor arrangements and crowd management, blame for protecting the culprits and asking for nothing less than the resignation of the Chief Minister

• ·     The government in power from its side will immediately announce setting up an enquiry commission to investigate and report to it, thus creating a job for a retired judge. 

• ·       The Government will quickly look for some soft targets and make them the fall guys by suspending a few police officers, civil servants, and some junior officers in charge of the place where the accident took place.

• ·       Who will be picked up and who will be made a scapegoat cannot be imagined by even God.   in the Hathras stampede incident where over 116 people died and many more were injured, not even an FIR was registered agaist the  Baba and other organisers and they were let go scot-free though it was their private gathering organised by them and they were responsible for the arrangements.   On the other hand, Allu Arjun coming out of his car while coming to the theatre to watch the movie was treated as trigger point for stampede and he was arrested and put behind bars for a day (despite a clear order by the High Court to release him on bail on the same day) and a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was slapped on him.    If Allu Arjun can be held guilty for this indirect act of trigging stampede why not the Baba of Hathras?

• ·       The CM other ministers and other political leaders from the opposition will dash to the accident spot and the hospitals and homes of the victims for photo ops

• ·       The CM will announce very generous compensation of Rs.2 to Rs5 lakhs for the families of those who died and may be some Rs. 50,000 for those who were injured.   But strangely when Allu Arun announced Rs. 25 lakhs to the family of the lady who died in a stampede for which he cannot be held responsible remotely, the anti-Allu Arjun brigade, including the CM of Telangana and the ruling party workers demanded and ultimately made him cough up Rs. 2 crores to the victim family other than picking up enter medical expenses and education of the child injured in the incident.    Though any amount of compensation cannot bring back the innocent person (s) who died, as per these guys the value of the life of the deceased depends on who is blamed as a culprit – if it is the Government organised event couple of lakhs and if it is Sushil Ansal or Allu Arjun it’s in crores. 

 

What is the solution?

The only solution to control crowds and reduce the incidents of stampedes and such accidents is by bringing stringent laws against those indisciplined miscreants among the crowds and strict implementation of the same.  

Suspending a few officers and arresting some low-rung workers or high-profile private parties is no solution.   Whether it is the Bridge collapse case in Gurajat or Pushpa2 stampede case lot of painstaking efforts were made to search and arrest the owner of the company maintaining that bridge and framing Allur Arjun respectively, but no one has ever bothered to make few people in the crowd who trigger the stampede responsible.    In every such incident, few people trigger a sudden surge leading to a stampede or accident.   When in a crowded hall Police and the Telangana Govt claim that, with the help of CC cameras they could find out that Allu Arjun was laughing and enjoying the movie when the stampede happened outside the theatre, they could very well find out through the help of CC cameras who among the crowd had triggered the stamped and haul them up and slap all the cases that were filed against Allu Arjun against those people and make them cool their heels in jail.   If the Police and Administration do so in a few cases we can expect the crowds to behave orderly.  

Crowd control measures have to be put in place and strictly implemented without any fear or favour.   The police and other security personnel should be given absolute power to implement the same without any interference and without any fear of backlash.    If a bridge, boat or cable car has a maximum capacity don’t let a single person more than that step on to it, disembark those who do not follow safety precautions endangering their as well as other’s lives.    In stadiums, auditoriums and religious places control crowds in such a manner that they enter the area in batches in an organised and orderly manner, stopping others far off from the venue.   After that, if anyone is found violating any safety and other set norms simply arrest them and put them behind bars and slap criminal cases.  Let no Police, administrator or celebrity be punished for the faults of the mob on being made the `fall guys’

Though for us Indians,  may sound stringent all these measures are in place in every foreign destination.  When we go abroad, our own guys who are so unruly and indisciplined in India move like lambs when they go abroad.    Once I went to Genting and I stood with my family in a long Queue to play in small water scooters in a pond.   At the start of the Queue there was a sign board indicating maximum weight permitted is 75 kgs and requesting those above that weight not to standin the Queue.   We found an Indian family of 10 people and at least 6 adult members looked heavily built but still, they stood in the Queue.   Just before entering the pool everybody had to stand on the weighing machine and it gave an alarm if anyone crossed the weight limit.   Out of the 10 five failed the test and were politely asked to step aside.  They kept on arguing and blocking the way of others.   But the security guys pulled them aside and I saw them still arguing for a long time somehow to get into the pool but they were not allowed.   When they said we played it many times in India, they politely but sarcastically told them you could do it after returning to India.  Iseko Hindi main kehte hai `KhadeKhade Besti karvana’  Not only that one ride, but throughout the day we observed that even if it drizzled for 2 minutes they stopped, all the rides and cleaned and it took 30 minutes to resume the ride.   That is how the safety and security measures are implemented.    If it can be done in Genting, KL, Singapore and other places, why not in India? 

People have reduced themselves to be `Lathon ka Bhoot’

Though may sound harsh, in India people have reduced themselves to  `Lathon Ka Bhoot and baton se nahi maante’.

It is a pity even things essential for the personal safety of people like wearing helmets while driving two-wheelers, wearing seat belts while in a car, wearing safety jackets while riding on boats etc., are ignored and the Government has to pass laws making them made mandatory and it’s a pity that no one follows and they have to be challaned.   A day doesn’t pass without my seeing many ladies driving scooters without helmets and many youngsters hang helmets around their hands only to put it on their heads when they approach near to a traffic signal where they expect traffic police to be on the prowl.   The majority of the people who die in road accidents are due to serious head injuries because of not wearing helmets.    

So there is no option but to bring very stringent laws against crowding, triggering panic and stampede and it should be made a criminal offence and non-bailable and  they should be implemented with an iron fist.  

The day we bring such stringent  laws and enforce them religiously, then only we can expect the number of such unfortunate incidents to come down and the souls of the innocent people specially women and children died in such incidents will rest in peace.

 

S. Prabhakar

22.2.2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

The decimation of the “Khaas Admi” in the guise of an Aam Aadmi

By

S Prabhakar

 

Disclaimer: I can describe myself as being apolitical or maybe least interested in politicians or politics compared to cricket, movies, and other general topics. I never support or root for any politicians/political party but appreciate certain honest politicians who worked sincerely for their State/Nation and also critical of few rank corrupt and dishonest politicians.   I am so disappointed with the way Arvind Kejriwal (AK for short) projected himself and then deceived many that I felt like attempting an article on him, my first one on politics.   

This Article may not be palatable for AK/AAP supporters.    

 

The “Khas Aadmi” in the guise of an “Aam Aadmi”, AK, has been decimated and a large section of people, including his mentor Anna, once close confidants Kumar Viswas, Swati Maliwal, Ashitosh and many real `Aam Aadmi’ like me either felt Happy or relieved.

 

The long wait of 27 years is over for BJP which has won Delhi elections comfortably, though cannot be termed as a complete sweep or landslide. AK, the eternal liar, who has disappointed many for over a decade with his misleading postures and statements of being a politician with difference and honesty and man on a mission to bring a change and practice clean politics has been done and dusted for the time being.   If losing all the important Delhi state is bad, losing his own seat has come as a huge body blow.   AK himself said that these elections are like a referendum for him and if that be so he got the message of what the Delhiites think about him and he will take a longer time to come out this shock treatment.

 

The modest beginning:

AK had a very modest beginning coming from a non-political family and background.  He is an IITian and was a Revenue Officer. When Anna Hazare started a movement against corruption, he joined as a foot solder sitting in the second row behind stalwarts like Anna, Baba Ramdev, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Ashitosh and Kumar Vishwas.  Among these popular personalities, AK was a less known figure. But he rose on the ladder to the top swiftly and made his presence felt by the time Aam Admi party was formed.  To win the hearts of poor and middle class  he has projected a `phatichar’ image in the name of being an Aam Admi, wearing lose pant shirt, wearing chappal, keeping a Rs. 10 Ronaldo pen, covering his head with a muffler and badly cuffing all the time (which miraculously disappeared in a year after his becoming CM of Delhi), travelling by a low-end Maruti car.

 

That was a right and ripe time of over a decade of the most unprecedented corrupt practices unleashed by Congress Government a scam in every field, whether it was, Coal, 2G Telecom, CWG, Adarsh Housing or Defense deals scam.  It made life easy for AK to launch a tirade against the corrupt practices of Congress.   Sitting on dharna behind Anna and other stars, demanding an investigation by Investigative Agencies and arresting the guilty political opponents has become his daily routine.   A Government with a difference, a Government of, for and by Aam Aadmi and a corrupt free Government were his `Takiya kalams’.   As Indian politics has seen very few highly educated politicians, his IIT and Revenue service background and the fact that someone left a lucrative Government job has impressed many and made them make the mistake of being easily fooled around by this shrewd character called AK.   

 

The real Aam Aadmi, who were badly looking for a change and alternative to the corrupt congress and Hiduvta agenda-driven BJP,  thought Aam Aadmi party to be the best alternative going more by the Brand name of Anna and other Stars than AK.  On the appeal of Anna, many Aam Aadmi/common men from different walks of life have either joined Aam Admi party or given generous donations to put it on a very financially strong footing compared to any political party at its infancy stage.  With a very strong anti-congress and anti-incumbency wave and BJP not having that stronghold in Delhi compared to other States and Centre Aam Aadmi party had a dream debut in elections by winning Delhi handsomely.   

 

With all other star campaigners being busy in their respective professions, AK, who left a Government job by that time, could impress and convince Anna to push his name as Chief Ministerial candidate and after winning the election became CM of Delhi in the shortest political career.  Many Aam Admi in the country felt it to be their win and genuinely believed that AK would prove to be different from other politicians and would run his party and Government with honesty and integrity and in the most upright manner.

 

A lifetime opportunity squandered :

After being elected as CM, piggy backing Anna movement against corruption, AK had a lifetime opportunity to write a new chapter in the history of Indian politics to be the most honest chief minister/politician India has ever seen and find a place aside greats like Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, JP and Vajpayee.  Delhi being the smallest city state it would have been easy to run it successfully and transform it into a clean and beautiful city worth being the capital city of the Nation.   Had he done it, he would have got so much praise and publicity and would have won few terms without the requirement of money power and without practising muddy politics.     

 

                                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                          
                                                       

Not sure whether AK has ever seen the Tamil film `Amaidhipadai’ which was remade into` M Dharmaraju MA’ in Telugu and as `Jallad’ in Hindi (starring Mithun Chakraborty).   In that movie, a party worker, who is a mimicry artist entertaining the public who come for election rallies was put as a candidate by a seasoned politician to prove a point that any donkey put up by him as a candidate in elections can win.   He is proven right and the mimicry artist wins the elections and from the moment he wins the elections, he changes and shows his true colours, first making his mentor his assistant standing by his side with folded hands, and transforming himself into ruthless corrupt and dirty politicians, killing anyone or any number of people to hold on the power at any cost.    He goes to the extent of asking his right-hand henchman to kill his wife whom the henchman treats like his mother.   When the henchman asks `malik’ you love your wife and my mother so much how can you  order for her killing?   He says no doubt I love her so much having served me for such a long time, but I love my seat and power more than anyone else including my wife who is threatening to expose me.   If you have not watched the movie in any of these languages please do catch up and you will get a feeling as if the movie was a biographical account of AK though it was released long before AK was born as a politician.

 

What we saw in the next 5 to 10 years shocked not only all lambs like Aam Aadmi but his die-hard fans and followers.  Within no time after being sworn in as CM of Delhi, the very first move he made was to throw away the pillars and backbone of Aam Aadmi Party from the Anna movement, viz., Prashant Bhushan, Yogendera Yadav and Kumar Viswas on charges of `hold your breath’ that they are working against the interests of the Party.  Before the elections, he has not made a move without consulting this trio and after becoming CM it took not more than a week to realise that they were working against the interests of the Party. AK has followed religiously one of the 7 principles propounded in the contravecial Hindi movie `Kissa Kursi Ka' , that while climbing the Political ladder you should lick the feet of the person ahead of you, and kick the person who is below you in the ladder.   Then he completely dumped and ignored his mentor `Anna’ probably sniffing that Anna will never approve what he was to unleash.   I never heard AK take the name of Anna in any of his speeches or acknowledge him as his mentor, never seen him meeting him ever on any occasion including his Birthdays.   Good Bad or worse, in this aspect I find Nehru and Mayawati to be far better than AK.  They showed so much respect for their mentor Gandhi and Kanshi Ram respectively.  Simultaneously he  sidelined other stars like Kiran Bedi and Ramdev.  All these people are so fed up that they never came back to the fold of Aam Aadmi party and it has been a complete take over by AK.   That was an indication for any intelligent man things that were to unfold.     Quickly he made his coterie with close confidants who toed his line of thinking, like Manish Sisodia, Satyendra Jain, Sanjay Singh, Amanatullah Khan and Somnath Bharati (all of them were arrested subsequently on one case or the other). Within no time he proved himself to be no different from any other politician and seemed to be in a hurry to join the bandwagon as one the most corrupt politicians who ran the party and the Government in the most autocratic way.  

AK, proved to be worser than other politicians to the extent that other politicians never pretended to be `sharafat ka putle'.   in one of the scenes from Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Ganga tells an old man who pretends to be blind and asks her to help him reach his house and brings her and hands her in a kotha/prostitute den, "Baba in future never mislead any lady in distress the way you did with me, otherwise, people will lose faith on blind and stop helping them".    One should tell AK the same, if you want to be dishonest, or corrupt like any other politician you be so, do not give false hope that there is a politician with a different, honest and clean,   It hurts and pains more when they realise the reality as they did in your case. 

Liar Liar Liar

The USP of AK is that he lies all day long with a straight face without ever bothering about the `tamasha’ he is making himself in these days of rampant use of social media by all including politicians.   Some of the famous and much-circulated lies of AK:

 

1.  1 Lie – I will not take a big bungalow as CM residence like Shiela Dixit.  

 

Truth – First he took two bungalows of five bed rooms each and as if it is not enough gone on to build a Sheesh Mahal worth over Rs. 75 crores as CM residence and landed in a big soup.  

 

2.  2 Lie – I will not use big car as CM and do away with lal batti and VIP culture

  Truth – went for a costly SUV with lal batti and big contingent of security and party men following his cavalcade.   Travelling in Metro for swearing-in ceremony was only for optics.

3.  3 Lie – I will swear by my children that I will never support Congress nor take support from them.   (even the worst of the creeps will not swear by children) 

   Truth – He is part of INDI Alliance with Congress and had alliances with  Congress

4  4 Lie – Cleaning of Yamuna River.   Just before elections in 2015 and 2020, he promised to get Yamuna cleaned if he was elected to such an extent that we can have a picnic there with our children.

   Truth – for 10 long years not even a single day of work has taken place in cleaning the Yamuna River and shamelessly he repeated the same promise in 2025, and the electorate paid him back befittingly

 

5.    5 Lie – Promised corrupt free Government

  Truth – Turned out to be the biggest lie and a joke in his entire political career.   Apart from other things, in the Liquor scam, prima facie, he was found guilty and was arrested.  

 

6  6.  Lie – While asking for an investigation against Shiela Dixit, and Sonia Gandhi and demanding that they should be arrested for corruption, he said if there is any allegation against him or any of his colleagues he will be happy to face investigation and anyone found to be corrupt should be sent to jail

   Truth – His wish was granted when CBI, ED and other investigation agencies filed cases against him and his legislative colleagues and 18 of them were put behind bars for various charges after courts found prima facia cases against them, he cried horse of vindictive politics by BJP and misuse of ED/CBI

 

7 7. Lie – When Arun Jaitley took the lose-tongued AK to court in a defamation case, AK hired India top criminal lawyer Ram Jatmalani for a Bomb as fee (Rs. Four crores only) and paid the fee from Government funds.   When questioned he blatantly lied that Jatmalani is doing it pro-bono

   Truth – the next moment this news came in the papers Ram Jatmalani released a copy of his bill for a professional fee of Rs. 4 crores and confirmed that every single penny has to be paid.

 

8 8.  Lie - AK said he will never give the ticket to corrupt and criminals

 

Truth: there were many instances where his candidates were criminals and corrupt both. In total 44 AAP candidates so far have criminal cases against them.

   9.  Lie - AK published a book named "Swaraj" claiming that he is the original Author of the book.

Truth -  The book was originally written by Ajay Pal Nagar and he sent this copy to Kejriwal, AK rewrote this book with his name and published it without giving any credit to original Author.

 

    10 Lie – Denied taking 4 lakhs USD from Ford Foundation, which is involved in funding many NGOs for anti-India work. 

 

Truth – He first accepted that he had received the funding in an interview with Business Standard and then denied it again.

The list goes on unending……

The swollen cash chests of AK’s Aam Aadmi Party:

To begin with, the Aam Aadmi Party heavily relied on donations from the common men when Anna was at the helm of the affairs.  The Anna movement has caught the imagination of the people in such a way that genuinely the common men have given generous donations.  Our AK also known as Mr. Natwarlal was reported to have done some bungling there also and pocketed a few crores out of those donations also.

 

Once the party has come firmly under the grips of AK, the thousands have become lakhs and lakhs have become crores.   To be fair to AK, there is no denying the fact that no political party can survive without funds and donations (genuine or otherwise) and they are the the biggest source of funding.  No politician or political party can contest in any election without having huge funds at their disposal.   The amounts prescribed by the Election Commission are peanuts and that amount is blown away in a few hours by any Politician/Political party in any election.  AK has come to power piggybacking on the popularity of the Anna movement and the equation at that time was different.   Once came to power, tasted the power and after getting transformed into a seasoned politician, he had no option but to get down to doing all those things which a typical politician does, including raising huge funds for Self/Party. Its anybody's imagination that huge funds running into crores are not donated by anyone without quid pro quo.   Rahul Gandhi and AK and his followers never get tired of highlighting the support Adani and Ambani give to Modi and vice versa.  Every political party has its own Ambani/Adani and falls back on some industrial houses/businessmen for funds.

One can take such receiving of donations as a normal thing if AK restricted the fundraising from Industrialists/businessmen of Delhi/Punjab but his taking funds/donations from Ford Foundation and alleged to have taken funds from Canadian Kalistani separatists raises serious national security concerns and definitely make him ‘different’ from others and dislodges him from the `fake high pedestal’ on which he tries to keep himself of being the Honest and upright Politician.    

After conquering Delhi and Punjab, AK, understandably became ambitious and set his eyes on National politics thinking he and his party were better alternatives than Congress to take on Modi’s might. It appears that he has not learnt lessons from Chandrababu Naidu and KCR who were uncrowned kings in their respective states but when their ambitions swelled to play an active part in national politics (KCR has changed his party name from TSR to BSR also) they lost elections of their respective states and the same thing happened with AK also.    But to fuel his political ambition at a national level he has upped the ante and planned and executed the biggest Excise/liquor scam giving as many as 800 hundred licenses bringing a loss of revenue to the Government to the extent of over Rs. 2000 crores as per CAG report.   Whether he could deliver clean drinking water to every household in Delhi or not, he succeeded in making liquor reach within 100 meters of every household of Delhi including making liquor easily available near schools.   That proved to be the `waterloo’ for him and landed him in Tihar jail thus earning him the dubious distinction of becoming the first serving Chief Minister to be jailed. 

Non-functioning from Jail

The CM, with a difference, has his distinctive mark after being arrested also.   Even the more seasoned politicians and CMs like Soren, Lalu and Jayalalitha have resigned when facing arrest, but our “doodh ka dhula Kattar imandaar” AK has refused to resign and put some one in his place and said that he will operate as CM from Tihar Jail.   He was blissfully unmindful of the fact that he would not be allowed to hold meetings with his colleagues in Tihar, movement of documents and the process of signing documents when in Tihar Jail is highly restricted but still chose not to leave the Kursi even for a short while.  Understandably a non-trustworthy person cannot trust any other person.   Ultimately after spending more than five months in Jail, when SC granted bail they put conditions that he can not enter CM office, cannot pursue any official files or sign any document as CM.   So from holding on to the post of CM, his bail conditions were worse than staying in Jail.   So he had no option but to put the weakest Aatishi as CM and never missed an opportunity to remind all that she was a temporary CM. 

So that is the Kissa Kursika of a person who claimed that he does not have any `lalach to become CM’

 

What future holds for AK?

I must say not bright

The ardent die-hard Aap and AK followers try to put up a brave front by saying that though AK/AAP has lost the elections, the percentage of votes different is less than 3 percent compared to previous elections.  But what is more important is the difference between the seats lost is 46 (68-22)

 

But what AK/Aap should not forget is that in the last Telangana assembly elections, the percentage of votes difference between Congress and BRS was only 1 ½ percent but lost the elections and Government and within one year the party and party supremo KCR, who is credited with bringing Telangana was decimated and the existence of the party itself is in doubt.  

Whatever purpose they had in mind, as last Slavo, few AAP MPs came out in public and made tall claims that they were offered Rs. 15 cr to 20 cr to switch over before the declaration of elections.   By that time every exit poll has given a clear majority to the BJP.  Going by their claims, AK/Aap should be conscious enough that if some Rs. 300 cr are put on the block, the party can be finished.  After the disastrous results, I am sure the Aap MLA may jump the wall for a much lower price tag.  

As far as AK is concerned, he has already declared that ED/CBI and other investigative agencies are caged parrots and whatnot and he was put behind bars when he was in power and was CM of Delhi.   Now that neither he is CM nor even MLA, he can imagine how vulnerable he is and the cases registered against him are quite strong with every court including the Supreme Court prima facia finding some evidence of his wrongdoings because of which he was put behind bars first and stringent conditions were put by SC while granting bail also.

The toughest days are ahead of AK, coming out clean out of these serious corruption cases is not going to be an easy task before he can think of resurrecting his political career and his Party. 

The fewer lies he tells the better for him

 

S. Prabhakar

9^th February, 2025

 

 

 

Extreme violence in the Action movies.   How the Censor Board certifying these movies?

By

S Prabhakar

Often, I wonder do we need the Censor Board at all.  It does not look so after watching extremely violent and repulsive movies like Animal, Killer, Marco and many more such movies

If you have not seen the Malayalam movie Marco which was released PAN India (and turned out to be top grosser Malayalam movie), just imagine these gory scenes that forced me to think  `is the Censor Board really required’ and are they blindfolded and certify and pass such extremely violent movies in the name of action movies for public viewing even with `A’ certificate.

 

·    Throwing a person in an acid tub and panning a camera in to see how the body melts

 

·   First the villain cuts the hands and legs of hero friends with a wood-cutting machine

 

·       Then the hero does the same to a large number of goons with blood gushing out of the body and drenching the hero with blood all over the body

 

·       Stabbing in mouth

 

·       Smashing the heads of a dozen with a hammer

 

·       Indiscreetly chopping the limbs of goons by hero and beheading many and their heads rolling on the floor like football.

 

·       Firing indiscreetly at hundreds of people with a Gatling Gun, which has become mandatory for every hero in every language from Telugu to Bhojpuri after the success of KGF.

 

·       Inserting a sharp rod from the shoulder to the abdomen of a women

 

·       Hero piercing through the body and pulling out the heart and throwing on the floor

 

·       Hero pulling out intestines

 

·       Putting hands in the mouth and tearing off both cheeks of a lady

 

·       Smashing the head of a woman against the wall till death.

 

·       Smashing the head of a child with a gas cylinder by repeatedly hitting

 

·       Hanging a girl to death by a rope

 

·       Throwing a child from the first floor to death

 

·       Worst of all hitting and pushing on the tummy of a pregnant lady in labour pains pulling out the baby and carrying the newborn baby in a blood-soaked cloth and keeping it near an acid tub

While the non-stop over 20 minutes massacre goes on there are displays on the screen that crime against women is punishable and crime against children is punishable.  Our Censor Board members wash off their duties by prescribing such meaningless displays of notices/disclaimers on the screen

Even for a big-time action movie buff like me for close to six decades, this movie has had a stomach-churning effect and repulsive and I strongly feel that all the members of the Censor Board who have cleared and certified this movie (probably the original movie was cleared by Censor Board, Thiruvananthapuram) should be sacked for dereliction of their duties. Most of the violent scenes should have been chopped off mercilessly like the hero and villains did in the movie.

Does action mean extreme violence?

Absolutely not, but that is what our young and more specially ageing heroes in all Indian language movies think.   This has been proved beyond any doubt by the longest-standing action hero, Jackie Chan, who holds Guinness World records for stanging highest number of action scenes in movie history.  In over 100 breathtaking action movies Chan has starred they have not shown even a drop of blood in any movie.     In one of his interviews, Chan clarified that he will never show blood oozing out from any character in his movies, as he owes a responsibility not to promote violence but pure martial arts.    No living Indian actor can claim that he is a patch on Jackie Chan as far as daredevil action scenes are concerned done by Jakie without the help of stunt double.    Another iconic and most enduring and long-standing action movie series is James Bond movies from 1960 till date.  For over 6 decades James Bond movies set the standards for action movies which are copied all over the world.   Mega budgets are pumped in Bond movies to stage never seen before action scenes, there are a lot of chase sequences, gun fights hand to hand combats and a lot of bombing too is shown but none of those scenes are violent.

A well-choreographed action scenes well executed by able-bodied and trained actors adds to the thrill value of the movie.    There is no denying that Bruce Lee has single-handedly changed the face of action movies in the early 70s and popularised martial arts world over and inspired many generations of youngsters to take to bodybuilding and learn Martial arts for self-defence.   Mind you none of his movies, which were nothing but pure action movies, had violent scenes.   Even after more than half a century of his death he still remains a cult and legendary figure.   

Then why do Indian heroes (especially the ageing ones) require so much blood and gory, dismembering of limbs to project them as super action heroes?   Simply because the ageing Indian stars in all languages like Sharukh, Salman, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Kamal, Rajni, and Mamooty cannot lift their leg above knee level, cannot move their hands freely and they just wave their hands and leave the rest to the stunt doubles to fly all over the place.   But their desire to project themselves as macho action heroes has not died with age and they are misguided to think that by using explosive explicit and then keep hacking and beheading dozens of goons in each action scene and over hundreds in the entire movie with blood-spilling all over and they playing football with severed heads is lapped up by their stupid fans as action.   With the easily manageable Censor Board members who give a Nelson’s eye and clearing all such movies with extreme violence that too with a `U/A’  certificate things are becoming bad to worse.   Censor Board playts it safe by issuing a `U/A’ certificate which means  unrestricted but with a parental discretion advisory for children under 12 years.   So they can turn around and argue if parents are fine with their children watching such movies with or without them, who are we not to allow them to watch such movies.  

 

The history of action scenes in India:

Action scenes have been an integral part of Indian cinema from time immemorial.  The triumph of good over evil is rooted in our mythology and history and our producers have owned it like anything.  Whether it is a mythological movie, historical movie, social movie and of course action movie, action scenes are a must and we start believing that the macho image of a hero (in some movies even heroin) can not be elevated without action scenes.   Surprisingly, the first daredevil action star of Indian cinema was not a male but a female – the fearless Nadia (Mary Ann Evans – The Australian-India stunt woman and actor).   She did her own stunts without cables and without doubles, as long back as 1935.   After that every language has its own he-man, in Hindi Dara Singh and Dharmendra, in Telugu Krishna and NTR, in Tamil MGR and Jaishankar and so on.   Not only the stars who were branded as action stars but all other actors too tried their hand (legs too) in action scenes. 

Till the late 1960s, the action scenes were restricted to fist blows, and sword fights and the 1970s brought gun battles influenced by Hollywood westerns.   It was more of `dishum dishum’ background music and less violent and hardly any blood was shown.   With Daku / Dacoit film on the rise in the late 1960s to mid-1970s for the first time the Censor Board has swung into action creating a hurdle for clearance of action movies without major cuts.  Many scenes of Hindi movies like Sholay and Quarbani were chopped off and the producers had to fight a long battle with the Censor Board to get their movies cleared and ultimately compromise to avoid `A’ (only for adults) Certificate.  Sippy has to reshoot and change the climax scenes from crushing Gabbar by Thakur with spikes on his boots to leaving it to the Police.   That violent scene looks like elmentary before what we are seeing these days.      The romantic heroes and those who did not fit the bill in action movies like Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Manoj Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Amol Palekar, Sharukh and Amir in Hindi, ANR, Shoban Babu and Chandra Mohan in Telugu, Prem Nazir in Malayalam and Shivaji and Gemini Ganeshan in Tamil brought some semblance of order and respite from mindless action movies.

But come early 2000 the aging Telugu and Tamil stars started a bad trend by turning action scenes into the most violent.   Directors like S R Das, VV Vinayak, Kodi Ramakrishna, Boyapati and Sandeep Vanga in Telugu, Shankar, Muroogdas and Kanaga Raj in Tamil and Prashan Neel in Kannada started making extremely violent movies with old hags like Balayya, Chiranjeevi in Telugu, Rajnikant in Tamil, Dr. Shiv Raj Kumar in Kannada. The `beaten to death’ fraction wars between two different castes and/or villages have given ample scope for Telugu stars and directors to pack their movies with extremely violent action scenes.   With Movies like Gentleman, Indra, Samara Simha Reddy, Basha, and Legend becoming big box office hits,  it has become the new trend and success formula.

Following the footsteps of the older heroes the younger ones like Prabhas, Jr. NTR, Ram Charan, Allu Arjun and Mahesh Babu in Telugu, Yash in Kannada, Vijay, Ajit, Suriya in Tamil, Tiger, Ranbir and Ranvir in Hindi have joined the bandwagon.   With Bahubali and more especially KGF 1&2, RRR, Salaar becoming huge PAN India hits, Bollywood had no option but to import directors and technicians from the South and follow the trend with movies like Animal, Pathan and Jawan, with full of violence, which have hit bull’s eye.   As a result, the mad race as to who will make better (or should we call it worse) violent movies.  Two recent releases Kill in Hindi, and Marco in Malayalam coming from not-so-popular directors proudly claim themselves to be the most violent movies.    

Kill is a start-to-finish action movie all in a moving train with some 3-4 dozen goons coming on and on attacking the hero stabbing, tearing apart and killing whosoever comes in their way in cold blood including the heroin.   There was a time when a villain used to stab (without it being shown in close-up) and then a person was shown as lying down with some blood on the clothes, the same type of picturisation when a shot is fired from a pistol.    As against that in movies like Animal, Kill and Marco heroes and villains are shown slitting throats in graphic details, knives and surgical blades are used to tear apart any part of the body like a gunny bag.  People are stabbed in eye, mouth and slit from one end to another.   Where is action in all these things?  One really gets baffled that the wise men sitting as members of the Censor Board do not find anything wrong with it.

    

Censor Board Certification requirement

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film certification body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.  Every movie (whether made in India or abroad) has to obtain certification before it is exhibited in theatres in India.   Doordarshan and Settlitte channels are under the purview of the Censor Board but OTTs are still not brought under the purview of the Censor Board.  Censor Board has a right to refuse certification and ban public exhibition of a movie in India. 

 

The Censor Board consists of a chairperson and 23 members, all of whom are appointed by the Central government. 

The Board is headquartered in Mumbai and has nine regional offices at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Cuttak and Guwahati.

 

Guidelines for certification by the Censor Board Certification

The broad guidelines for certification inter-ilia cast a responsibility on the Censor Board to make sure that

• anti-social activities such as violence are not glorified or justified
• the modus operandi of criminals, other visuals or words likely to incite the commission of any offence are not depicted;
• scenes showing the involvement of children in violence as victims or perpetrators or as forced witnesses to violence, or showing children as being subjected to any form of child abuse.
• pointless or avoidable scenes of violence, cruelty and horror, scenes of violence primarily intended to provide entertainment and such scenes as may have the effect of de-sensitising or de-humanising people are not shown

 

The above referred guidelines are relating to violence, and it is clear that any scenes involving extreme violence should come under the radar of the Censor Board and it should toned them done drastically or eliminated completely.   But going by what we discussed about the extreme violence depicted in many movies in every Indian language, especially movies like Kill, Animal and Marco should not have been cleared by the Censor Board at any cost even with `A’ certification.      The very fact that not only such movies are cleared by the Censor but also entered our drawing rooms shows that our Censor Board is a toothless tiger which can be managed easily by the producers with deep pockets and movies with objectionable content like extreme violence, excessive doses of sex and vulgarity and child abuse have a smooth sail with censor certification.   

Do film-makers owe any responsibility towards society?

Whenever the filmmakers are questioned on the objectional content of their films and its adverse effect on society they defend by saying that they are into a commercial activity and are there to invest money to make profits and not to refine the Society.    They go a step further that people and society do not get influenced and get spoiled only by films.   They have a point when they say that if the people in the society do not get influenced by positive things shown in the films and become righteous why should films be blamed for the negative things shown to be the root cause for all societal evils?

But having said that there is no denying that negative things attract people easily and showing them in excess and in graphic details can always have a bad influence in marginal cases.  Maybe if an anti-social element under influenced by the movies of 60s and 70s stabbed anyone he might only stab once but if anyone stabs some one under the influence of current movies he will tear a person apart from one end to another leaving no chance for survival after watching the movies of 2020s.   Many criminals have admitted that they did very heinous crimes influenced by movies and they learnt many tricks as were shown in movies. That is where the Censor Board has to step in and tone down these violent movies drastically.  

Moreover, there was a time when such violent things were done by villain characters, they were shown in a bad light met a horrible end or were shown as to have realised their mistakes and refined.   But unfortunately, now such heinous crimes are being shown by heroes and it is depicted as if it’s a heroism or mechoism.    The discredit for this should be put on Hindi heroes right from Sunil Dutt, Dharmendra, Shatrughan, Vinod Khanna and Amitabh so many heroes of 60s to 90s did so many negative characters of Daku, thieves, smugglers and even terrorists.   At that time the South heroes like NTR, ANR, MGR Shivaji, Kannada Raj Kumar and Prem Nazir were doing good goodie socials, family dramas and love stories.   Come 2000, South Indian movies caught up with Bollywood and all the heroes like Rajni, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna and the younger lot followed the footsteps of their Bollywood counterparts.   Take half a dozen top grossers in the last 10 years, viz., KGF, Sahoo, Animal and Pushpa 1 and 2 and now Marco, heroes of all these movies are criminals and mass murderers massacring hundreds of people in the movie and there is no need to give justification to anyone – the audience or least to the Censor Board.  

If every film has to be certified and if the government and the Censor Board feel that filmmakers have unhindered freedom of speech, then why run a sham called the Censor Board?    Let there be a free run for all as is happening in the case of OTTs.  Unnecessarily Government is spending a lot of money on running the Censor Board and there is unnecessary harassment to producers managing these Board members.  

 

S. Prabhakar

2.2.2025