Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory celebrations in Bengaluru turned fatal as 11 people died due to a stampede around the M Chinnaswamy stadium. Reacting on the incident, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah referenced past tragedies like the Kumbh Mela.
He said, “I don’t want to defend this incident. Our government will not do politics on this. I have ordered a magisterial inquiry and given 15 days. People even broke the gates of the stadium. There was a stampede. No one expected such a huge crowd. The stadium has a capacity of only 35,000 people, but 2-3 lakh people came.”
Responding to questions about BJP’s charges of ‘gross negligence’, he stated, “Such incidents happened in many places; I am not going to defend it by comparing them and saying that it happened here and there … 50-60 people died in Kumbh Mela. I did not criticise. If Congress criticises, then that is a different matter. Did I or the Karnataka government criticise?”
Meanwhile, reacting on the incident, Virat Kohli wrote on Instagram, “At a loss for words. Absolutely gutted.”
According to reports, until one hour before the felicitation ceremony, there was no clarity regarding the arrangements made for the celebrations. RCB had accnounced on social media that there would be a parade. But the Bengaluru Traffic Police had contradicted that with a statement saying no parade would be there.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told PTI, “When one organises a victory celebration of this magnitude, proper precautions, safety and security measures need to be taken. There have been some lapses somewhere. After such a glorious ending to the IPL, this has been an anti-climax. There have been IPL celebrations in the past as well, like in Kolkata last year when KKR won but nothing happened there.”
