What did you miss?
Amol Rajan has said he was “terrified” when he got caught up in the panic after 30 people were killed in a crowd crush at India’s Kumbh Mela festival.
The University Challenge host made a pilgrimage to the Hindu festival at the Ganges, hoping that it would help as he struggled with the death of his father. The event – the world’s largest religious festival with half a billion attending this year – sees people bathing in the river with the belief that they can emancipate relatives from the cycle of death, birth and rebirth.
While Rajan was there in early 2025, there was a rush to the water and at least 30 people died, with 90 others injured. Saying it had been a “scary” day, the TV star debated whether to continue his pilgrimage to the river, which was being filmed for his BBC documentary Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges. “It’s horrendous what happened,” he said.
What, how and why?
The programme aired on Wednesday, 25 June and followed Rajan as he opened up about losing his dad three years ago and travelled to India to attend the Kumbh Mela.
The journalist was one of thousands of people waiting for the procession to the water when there were reports of a problem at the Sangam, the area where many pilgrims aimed to gather.
The star said it was ‘scary’ being at the festival amid the crowd crush. (BBC/Wildstar Films)
It was reported that many had rushed towards the river, trampling people who were sleeping on the ground.
Once the crush was confirmed, Rajan and his team started to head back to the camp where they were staying, but they found it difficult moving through the huge crowds.
“Nothing can prepare you for being within that mad throng and feeling, as I did, absolutely terrified that in a moment it could be life-ending,” he said afterwards.
Describing what it had been like trying to get back to his base, he said: “I found that the people in front of me were just stepping on women.
Amol Rajan and his late father. (BBC screengrab)
“There were lots of very poor, very old, very fragile, possibly quite sick women, and they were kind of like this human debris on the floor.”
Read more: Amol Rajan
“There were kids as well,” said the father-of-four. “And the thing that just killed me was we got into this area and a girl, maybe 11 or 13-years-old, had clearly lost her family. And the terror on her face was awful. It was awful.”
What happened?
Rajan ended up debating whether to try to get to the water at all, asking in a piece to camera: “What is the level of risk involved in getting to the water?
“Now, I am up for a pretty high level of risk but I am not up for stupid risk and we’ve got a team here who I have also fallen in love with and I kind of think we have to think about, as a team, what are we prepared to withstand? And I don’t really want to be in a crowd like that again.”
The star debated trying to reach the water. (BBC/Wildstar Films)
However, the star admitted: “I don’t think I’d forgive myself if I failed to get to the water.” The following day, after taking part in an ancient Hindu funeral rite to honour his father, he made his way to a bathing spot he could reach.
Wading in, he released flowers into the water and submerged himself, surrounded by others doing the same.
“I release my dad – it just feels a wonderful thing to do,” he said tearfully.
“I came here because I wanted to get closer to my dad,” Rajan went on. “For three years I avoided thinking about him because it was too painful and I came here honestly because I wanted to understand something profound about the human condition. And on all these fronts, I really feel like I have won.”
The star was emotional as he took a dip in the river. (BBC screengrab)
“It’s nice to feel closer to him,” said the journalist. “When you first start going through grief, it’s so horrible you want to avoid it. In time, that changes, and you want to embrace the person you miss.
“I can see from the faces of everyone who I am sharing the water with how much it means to them and I feel this tremendous affinity with them, this tremendous, tremendous fellow feeling and sense of belonging. There is a power in doing something that a lot of people have done for a very, very long time.”
“I am high as a kite, if I am honest, and I can feel the cosmic energy flowing through me right now,” said the star.
Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges is available on BBC iPlayer.
