KARUR, TAMIL NADU – After a terrible stampede at actor-politician Vijay’s rally in Karur, Tamil Nadu, killed at least 40 people and hurt more than 100 more, officials and political parties have started pointing fingers at each other. The corpses of the dead have been given to their families and post-mortem exams have been done. Now, the attention is on who is to blame for the terrible event. Three of the hurt people are said to be in very bad shape.
Police Press Charges, Name Organizers
The police say that they did not fail to gather information and instead blame a number of mistakes made by the organizers of Vijay’s party, Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK). A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against TVK officials, including Madhiazhagan, the secretary of the Karur (north) district, Bussy Anand, the general secretary, and CTR Nirmal Kumar, the joint general secretary, for culpable homicide and putting lives at risk.
Davidson Devasirvatham, the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), says that the rush was caused by a number of important things:
Vijay got to the event three hours late from a prior rally, which made the crowd wait all day and became more and more impatient.
Failure to Control the gathering: The TVK only asked for authorization for a gathering of 10,000, but some 25,000 people showed up.
Ignoring Police Orders: Police on the ground told the people in charge of Vijay’s campaign bus to stop 50 meters from the authorized area, but they stuck to their original parking plan. Also, Vijay didn’t get out of his car for 10 minutes, which made the crowd even more anxious.
Not Making Plans: The police also said that the party didn’t make enough plans, such providing drinking water, and didn’t follow other rules given by the police.
TVK says there is a conspiracy, and other leaders speak out.
TVK lawyer S. Arivazhagan quickly accused the Tamil Nadu government and police of being part of a “political conspiracy.” He said that the examinations of the victims were done too quickly and without properly identifying the bodies. He has asked for an investigation that is either monitored by the court or done by an outside party.
Other politicians have also spoken out about the tragedy:
M.K. Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, said that the families of the dead will get ₹10 lakh and the injured would get ₹1 lakh. He has put retired High Court Justice Aruna Jagadeesan in charge of a commission to look into the stampede. He said that “strict action will definitely be taken” once the truth comes out.
Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, a Karnataka BJP MLC, said that the stampede was a failure of both the state administration and Vijay because he was new to politics.
Supriya Shrinate, a leader of the Congress party, said that leaders are “certainly responsible” for stampedes, but she also said that the focus should be on helping the relatives of the victims.
The political repercussions from the catastrophe is still going on, with each side pushing its story and screaming for accountability. The families of the dead are grieving, and the injured are getting treatment.