Temple and pilgrimage crowd management has repeatedly tested successive governments in Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation.
A comparison between the tenures of N Chandrababu Naidu and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy shows clear differences in outcomes, particularly when incidents are examined with dates and locations.
The most widely recalled one is on 14 July 2015, a deadly stampede occurred at Rajahmundry during Godavari Maha Pushkaralu, a major Kumbh Mela in Andhra Pradesh.
As thousands of pilgrims rushed simultaneously to take a holy dip in the Godavari, crowd pressure triggered a stampede, killing around 27 people and injuring many.
The tragedy is widely cited as the most significant fatal crowd management disaster in the state between 2014 and 2019.
Between 2019 and May 2024, under Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government, no officially recorded fatal temple stampede took place.
Despite massive crowds during Vaikunta Ekadasi and peak darshan days at Tirumala, incidents were limited to near-stampede situations and minor injuries.
The administration relied on token-based darshan, slot systems, CCTV surveillance and rapid police intervention, which helped contain crowd pressure before it escalated.
After July 2024, when Chandrababu Naidu returned to power, serious incidents resurfaced.
On January 8, 2025, a deadly stampede occurred near Vaikunta Dwara darshan token counters in Tirupati, killing six devotees and injuring dozens as crowds jostled for tokens.
Later, on November 1, 2025, another fatal stampede was reported at Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, Kasibugga, Srikakulam district, claiming around nine lives amid festival rush and bottlenecks.
Though not a stampede, a major crowd managament disaster took place in Srisailam. That too, the police ding lathi charge on the devotees who are in Shiva Mala speaks heights about the sacrilege.
The devotees mentioning that this type of incident never happened earlier and cursing the Chandrababu's government.
The timeline suggests that while temple crowds are inherently challenging, governance approach and preventive planning play a decisive role.
Periods marked by stricter regulation and technology-driven crowd control saw fewer fatalities, while lapses in anticipation and execution repeatedly turned devotion into tragedy.