Kolkata Durga Puja Pandal Stampede: Crowds, Consumerism and Commercialization!

In an unprecedented stampede at a Kolkata Durga Puja pandal last night, the 17^th of October 2026, at least 19 people have lost their lives with many injured being treated in the city hospitals. Good things only have always been said about the incredible Durga Puja festival in the state of West Bengal, particularly in the city of joy Kolkata. And there’s nothing to doubt about in this regard: the display of the idols (thakur) and the pandals in an unbelievable richness of themes and creative designs across almost all the streets and lanes of the city; the famous big Pujas installing the idols just a day or two after Mahalaya so as to ensure the unending footfalls hence; and the music stages, the food-selling or the variety-store stalls also installed along with all the other items signifying a mouth-watering fair that continues for at least a week, day and night. So, huge crowds, from all corners of the city, from the state and even from other states of the country descend on the streets for the much awaited pandal-hopping or thakurdekha every year. Lakhs of people spill over into almost all the streets and lanes from usually the afternoon hours till dawn next day. No doubt, crowd management controls with police and private security personnel are in order at most checkpoints and entry/exit points. However, should an untoward incident happen, like a false alarm or rumour or a smoke or a thunderstorm, the swelled crowds would naturally break all barriers, crushing everything in front like a mindless machine.

Who can control that kind of an eventuality? The controlling personnel would likely end up being victims of the stampede rather than preventing it. Else the Tamil Nadu CM Vijay’s election rally deaths could’ve been prevented or the deaths in the Virat Kohli (RCB) victory march crowds could’ve been prevented or the numerous temple stampedes happing across the country with monstrous regularity could’ve been prevented permanently long back. In an overpopulated country like ours with the infra bursting at the seams, finding the scapegoat is always the easiest option than finding a lasting preventive formula. That’s what happening in Kolkata right now. The police and private security personnel in charge of that fateful pandal are being blamed; the Puja Committee office bearers are being blamed, resulting in the arrest of seven people so far. The rulers would thus score their brownie points with a servile media backing their every move and would finally emerge the heroes out of a sheer public tragedy already almost forgotten.

Last evening, we visited our nearest Durga Puja pandal for the evening prayers. The thakurdekha crowds had already outnumbered the local genuine devotees and swelling all the time. The pandal, made in colourful design and finish, stood solid and spacious, but it was obviously not built in a way to shelter a huge crowd in an emergency. I always find the crowds inside a pandal rather stolid and unresponsive to anything. They look to be there with a singular purpose of fulfilling a wish and the people around them hardly ever matter. They look up to the Goddess as if only to click their photos with Her so as to be able to post those in their social media handles. I always shiver to think that they’d only respond when there is an emergency—to save themselves against all odds, even if it meant trampling down all others around them. Standing out the time taken to complete the formalities, I finally rid myself of the constant pushing and jostling and emerged into the open ground which is normally used as a public park, looking around at the surrounding illuminated commercial stalls.

Suddenly, a strong wind wheezed around even as lightning littered the sky and very soon there began a drizzle. People who were lounging on the green field with eatables of sorts stood up immediately and rushed into the pandal. My wife was still inside, in the thick of the crowd that started swelling up ominously now. I started having the beginnings of a nightmare. What would happen if the drizzle suddenly developed into a torrential downpour with loud thunder and lightning?  Police and volunteers were there around the ground. But how would they be able to control if the whole crowd rush into the pandal? I acted immediately. Called my wife on phone and asked her to somehow come out of the crowd. It took quite a long time for her to succeed in breaking through the crowd to join me on our short walk home. Fortunately, the drizzle never turned into a torrent.

But it did in that fateful pandal, almost at the same time as we decided to come home. Crowds never behave rationally. They’d, of course, think of their immediate safety, but would never want to give up on their singular wish as I mentioned earlier. With their devices in them they become kind of a digital entity that doesn’t feel the way normal human beings feel. They are more like the AI Actors, but sans the computer controls.

The present state of things across the country are not at all helping them to see sense. The clutch of consumerism over them is getting tighter all the time, trying to maximise their earnings by hook or by crook, optimizing their choices in the most reckless manner possible and thinking that if they didn’t cash in they’d be the miserable losers in this unannounced race. This explains the constant rush at the markets, malls, food plazas, clubs and pubs; not to speak of the festivals numerous. Even trying to achieve virtue of punya has seemed to become a part of the consumerism. This supposed phenomenon of Punya Consumerism is squarely responsible for the uncontrollable crowds at the temples or any place or worship on auspicious occasions. All-round raging commercialization is just cashing in on this craze of consumerism and punya consumerism.

The governments cherish this as a consumer demand, giving the much needed opportunities for new businesses to flourish. The media, ever hungry for TRP, only hypes this up, for example, covering the festivals with the constantly reminding tickers that crowds are swelling up—as the night advances the crowds grow bigger and bigger—and like that. Such crash commercialization obviously leads to regulatory violations in all business activities. Like the Goa club fire, the Tarapith hotel fire and other hotel fires all around, the hospital fires, the Delhi and Mumbai house collapses or hoardings crashes or artificial floods. On the occurrence of any such mishap the media would immediately join the governments and gloat over the arrests or probes in terms of SITs or safety audits or compensation packages or whatever. Have we ever seen an in-depth cover story about why hotels crop up in clusters or the hospital safety scenario or anything of that kind in complete disregard to mandatory regulations? The system works so that everything gets forgotten soon and it’s back to ‘business’ as usual with the crowds enjoying like never before.

Very sad and unfortunate. But would such things ever stop? No way as the things stand now, and it could only worsen with the surging crowds dominating and the system supporting. In my view, the onus for the only way to prevent such human tragedies lies squarely on us, the consumers. We must become rational, restrained and socially conscious. Kolkata Durga Puja could be the most exciting enticing and incredible festival of the world, but we must still put controls on our pandal-hopping craze and instead find peace during the quiet hours at the pandals without the devices attached all around our bodies. As for the governments they must find more effective ways to control crowds at the source, instead of finding scapegoats when an unfortunate mishap occurs. If they can deploy thousands of security forces to control a few hundred protestors why can’t they find a permanent solution with the enormous resources they have in their coffers? Development needs to be redefined. Time is running out!