what price life?
twenty-one women were killed today in the northern indian city of lucknow in a stampede set off when free saris were offered at a public birthday celebration for lalji tandon, a close aide to prime minister atal bihari vajpayee.more than 10,000 poor women and their children, responded to the sari offer and gathered under a large white tent in a public park. they rushed forward at the end of the birthday celebration jostling with one another to reach the distribution point and collect a birthday gift which cost twenty-one of them their life. this evening, on a counter, a pile of new saris sat in a heap, undistributed.
for what reason other than to buy votes would the hindu nationalist party do this? who ever heard of a public birthday celebration for a member of staff followed by a clothes giveaway? and how is it possible that nobody had the foresight to suggest a raffle, or distribution from within the amassed group or any other way to reduce risk even if just upon noticing the amount of people turning up?!
these deaths, in the prime minister's home constituency should remind indians that even as mr vajpayee campaigns for re-election trumpeting the country's soaring economy, abject poverty and despair remain a horrid fact of life in india.
via the new york times.
