This year, the festival is being celebrated amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and many devotees said that they prayed to Chhathi Maiyya to keep everyone safe from the virus. "I am keeping fast without water for four days. We will pray to Chhathi Maiyya to keep everyone safe from COVID-19," says Rinku Devi, a devotee, after taking a dip in the river.
While people gathered at Lucknow's Gomti riverfront, the Ganga banks in Varanasi and Patna were abuzz with devotees, keeping the COVID-19 protocols at bay.
The recent stampede at New Delhi Railway station, which claimed the lives of at least 18 people, highlights a recurring issue in India: deadly stampedes. This tragedy is not an isolated incident, as numerous stampedes resulting in significant casualties have occurred over the years. This article explores some of the most devastating stampedes in India, including the deadly event at the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj just a few weeks ago, the 2024 tragedy at a 'satsang' in Hathras, and the 2013 stampede during Navratri festivities in Madhya Pradesh.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday appealed to rival leaders to "not do politics" over Chhath Puja, even as he asserted that the restrictions imposed on its celebrations at riverbanks and other public places were for the safety of people amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual festival dedicated to the Sun god will be celebrated on Friday and Saturday by people who originally hail from north India and are residing in the metropolis. In the past, the festival used to see large number of people thronging prominent beaches, river banks and other water bodies to make offerings to the Sun god at sunrise and sunset.
Here is a list of some of such major tragedies that have taken place in the country in recent years.
The BJP's victory in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections was largely attributed to the Yamuna pollution issue, with the party successfully capitalizing on the backlash from Haryanvi-origin voters who perceived AAP's narrative on the river's pollution as an attack on their home state. The BJP's campaign focused on presenting itself as both the protector of Haryana's honor and the party with a concrete vision for the Yamuna's revival, ultimately leading to AAP's significant decline in the Yamuna belt and rural areas.
The four-day Chhath Puja may be a Hindu festival, but Muslim families across Bihar are busy churning out earthen stoves for devotees.
The right to life and health of the public at large cannot be sacrificed at the altar of a right to celebrate a festival
A CCTV footage has surfaced on social media showing passengers crowding and jostling to board an unreserved express train at Bandra Terminus, which led to a stampede that left 10 persons injured.
Nine persons were injured in a stampede after rush for boarding a train at Bandra railway station in Mumbai on Sunday morning, a civic official said.
As Chhath Puja draws to a close tomorrow, we bring you some pics of the festival.
Days after their landslide victory in Bihar assembly polls, Grand Alliance leaders, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad, are celebrating Chhath festival at their residences.
'The BJP should identify those involved in the protest against singing Gandhiji's bhajan and take action against them.' 'Such people should be removed from the party because they harm the BJP's image.'
People visit riverbanks during the festival to pay obeisance to the sun god at dawn as well as dusk, preferably just prior to the sunrise and sunset.
These Muslim women are poor and illiterate but, with the devotion they display as they create handmade earthen stoves for Chhath, they strengthen the social fabric, says M I Khan.
Millions of devotees, particularly married women, took a dip in the rivers, ponds and makeshift water bodies and offered prayers as the four-day-long Chhath began amidst tight security on Monday in Bihar.
The unlikely and newly-discovered star on the Jharkhand campaign trail is a 39-year-old feisty army brat, who is married to the state's chief minister. Wearing only saris, always sporting sindhoor, a tikka and bangles, Jharkhand political rallies haven't seen anyone like Kalpana Murmu Soren before! She brings both lively energy and style to the podiums/stages she graces, arriving like a breath of fresh air to make fiery speeches that ignite the crowd.
It is festive time in rural Bihar. Millions of migrant workers have come back to their native village to celebrate Chhath festival. "I am happy to be home after a year to celebrate Chhath," said Bachchu Thakur from Raghunathpur village in Aurangabad district. He works in Ludhina in Punjab.
Rabri Devi dared the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena from stopping her and her husband, Lalu Prasad, from holding the Chhat Puja in Mumbai. She also said that MNS chief Raj Thackeray had hurt Biharis with his anti-Chhat comments.
Agitating junior doctors in West Bengal resumed their indefinite 'total cease work' on Tuesday to press for various demands, including ensuring their safety and security at all medical establishments.
Bihar Home Secretary Amir Subhani on Tuesday began an inquiry into the stampede that caused the death of at least 18 people, mostly children and women, during the Chhath festival at the Adalatganj Ghat on the Ganga River in Patna on late Monday evening, officials said.
All the newly elected MLAs have been invited to Patna after the Chhath festival for a joint meeting with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
Six children drowned while trying to create a platform for Chhath festivities in a pond at Pulindabad village in Saharsa district of Bihar on Tuesday.
Chhath, a festival to worship the Sun God, was celebrated on Saturday with lakhs of devotees, mostly women, thronging the ghats of numerous rivers in Bihar. The ghats of the Ganga, Kosi, Kiul, Bagmati, Kamla Balan, Gandak and Burhi Gandak, besides thousands of ponds, were thronged by worshippers, who offered prasad cooked in pure ghee and mixed with sugar, raisins, coconuts, flour, fruits and sugarcane. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's sister led the family in performing puja.
The four-day long Chhath festival ended on Thursday with millions, braving the chill and taking a dip in the river to offer prayers to the rising sun.
Ruling out administrative lapse behind the stampede during Chhath which claimed 18 lives, the Bihar government on Wednesday said it was triggered by rumours and hinted at a conspiracy.
Sticking to an age-old tradition, thousands of people in Bihar drank water from the Ganga, which is unfit for human consumption, during the recently concluded Chhath festivities.
Passengers rushed to board the Tapti Ganga Express train from Surat railway station in the morning, causing chaos in which some people fainted, Superintendent of Police (Western Railway) Sarjo Kumari said.
Sensing anger and unhappiness over the pathetic condition of the 'ghats' (banks) along sacred Ganga river ahead of Chhath Puja -- the most popular Hindu festival in Bihar, the state government has began a cleanliness drive and beautification of all ghats in Patna and outside.
Lakhs of devotees converged at Juhu beach in suburban Mumbai to offer prayers to the Sun God as part of the Chhath Puja festivities which began on Tuesday.
Abhishek Mande visits Juhu beach in the wee hours of Wednesday morning with thousands of devotees, as the Chhath puja draws to a close in Mumbai.
At least 18 people including 8 children and 10 women, mostly devotees, died and several injured in a stampede during Chhath festival in Patna on Monday evening, the police said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said Narendra Modi should be referred to as a Bharatiya Janata Party leader and not as the prime minister in the saffron party's campaign as he is a 'caretaker PM'.
The objection comes against the backdrop of strong rumours and the Bharatiya Janata Party claim that Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana will be the first choice for the chief minister's post in case her husband was arrested.
Bihar has fertile grounds for caste to emerge as an electoral issue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged the use of artificial intelligence for creating deepfakes saying this can lead to a big crisis, as he urged the media to spread awareness about its misuse and impact to educate people.
On Wednesday, the Bihar Cabinet in a meeting chaired by the chief minister passed a resolution on asking the Centre to include the provision in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution, Siddharth said.
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