The stampede at the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj in the early hours of Wednesday, which killed at least 30 people and injured at least 60 others, sparked a rush of political leaders pinning the blame on what they called mismanagement.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a judicial inquiry into the pre-dawn tragedy that left at least 30 people dead and 60 injured at what is seen as the largest human gathering of its kind. .

"We have formed a three-member judicial commission headed by Justice Harsh Kumar, former DG VK Gupta and retired IAS DK Singh,” Adityanath said on Wednesday evening.

“We have been monitoring the entire incident from the chief minister's control room, the chief secretary's control room, and the DGP's control room throughout the day. Meetings went on throughout the day and there was continuous communication with the administration regarding the incidents." the chief minister said.

The Opposition was scathing in its attack on the ruling BJP.

“Mismanagement and administration's special focus on VIP movement instead of common devotees are responsible for this tragic incident,” Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi wrote on X.

“There is still a lot of time left for the Maha Kumbh, many more Mahasnans are to take place. The government should improve the system to prevent a tragic incident like today from happening again.”

He added: “VIP culture should be curbed and the government should make better arrangements to meet the needs of common devotees.”

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav declared that the army should be called in.

"In order to re-establish faith in the system among the saint community and devotees who have come to the Maha Kumbh, it is necessary that the administration and management of the Maha Kumbh should be immediately handed over to the army instead of the UP government," Akhilesh said on his X handle.

"Now that the truth of the claims of making world-class arrangements has come out in front of everyone, those who were claiming and spreading false propaganda about it should resign from their posts taking moral responsibility for the people killed in this accident," he wrote.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said: “The Yogi government spent all the money only on its branding and marketing and not on the arrangements for the devotees who came to the Mahakumbh."

Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT) called the deaths “murder by the state administration.”

He alleged that when defence minister Rajnath Singh visited the Mahakumbh, a ghat was closed for a day and when home minister Amit Shah visited all of Prayagraj was shut down.

Popular anti-BJP YouTuber Dhruv Rathee posted a video on X, where a devotee, apparently from Maharashtra, is heard saying: “I have lost everything. How will I go back home? There was no police. Yogi says he is a monk; did he call us to die here? They give VIP treatment to some. Is this the arrangement? He shouldn’t have organised this.”

There was confusion about the death toll in the absence of an official statement till at least 12 hours after the tragedy although the administration has been putting out detailed numbers about the millions of people attending and bathing in the Mahakumbh every day.

At 11.16am, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee posted a condolence message on her X (formerly Twitter) account condoling the loss of “at least 15 innocent lives” in the stampede at the Mahakumbh.

She added: “My learning from our Gangasagar Mela is that planning and care must be maximal in matters relating to pilgrims' lives in vast assemblies of people.”

At 11.47am, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X in Hindi: “The tragedy that happened in Prayagraj’s Mahakumbh is extremely sad. My deepest condolences to the devotees who have lost their loved ones. I wish for the speedy recovery of all the injured. The local administration is engaged in helping the victims in every possible way. In this regard, I have spoken to chief minister Yogi ji and I am constantly in touch with the state government.“

Deputy inspector general Vaibhav Krishna gave the details of the casualties at a press conference in the evening.

"The incident took place due to the pressure of the crowd. The crowd broke barricades and jumped to the other side, crushing those waiting there. Over 90 injured were rushed to the hospital, of whom 30 died," he said.

He said 25 of the deceased have been identified. Four of them are from Karnataka and one each is from Assam and Gujarat.