The deadly stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata that killed at least 19 people, most of them women and children, and injured many, has marred one of the most colourful festivals in the country. It is a sobering reminder to the West Bengal government that it must turn its attention to administering a populous state without the distractions of everyday political one-upmanship. There can be no excuse for its failure to conduct a planned festival in an orderly fashion, since the protocols for crowd management were set by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as early as 2014. Bengal Chief Minister Suvendhu Adhikari has shown wisdom in hindsight, assigning a battery of senior police officers to puja management duties after the ghastly stampede. A ban........

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