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India Gazette
4 days ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
"It was state-orchestrated": BJP MP Tejasvi Surya slams govt over Bengaluru stampede
Washington, DC (USA) June 5 (ANI): BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has strongly criticised the state government over the stampede in which 11 people were killed near the Chinnaswamy stadium during RCB's IPL win celebration in Bengaluru. Surya alleged that the Chief Minister's decision to invite fans to join the celebration without adequate security arrangements was 'state-orchestrated' and led to the tragedy. While speaking to ANI, MP Surya said, ' The stampede was completely avoidable. It was state-orchestrated... Yesterday, the CM put out a tweet giving out an open invitation to everyone, knowing fully well, the frenzy of the crowd of fans. He gives this open invitation without making adequate security, safety, and crowd management arrangements.' Surya criticised the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister for trying to 'hog the undeserving limelight' and making the event a 'family function' of Congress leaders. He demanded that the state government take responsibility for the lives lost and provide monetary compensation to the families of the victims. Surya questioned the purpose of a magisterial inquiry announced by the state government, saying it would take 15 days to submit a report. 'Keep this 15-day report yourself in your house. Who cares? Will this 15-day magisterial report help these families?' he asked. 'You cannot blame RCB, Virat Kohli, or even the fans. If there is anyone responsible, it is the CM and the DCM who wanted to hog undeserving limelight and made this an entire family function of the Congress leaders... On stage, we see Congress leaders, their children, their daughter-in-law, son-in-law, everybody trying to take selfies with these people and hog the limelight. At whose cost? Lives that have been lost cannot be brought back. Now, the state government must own up and monetarily compensate the families of those who lost their lives. Some young breadwinners have died in this stampede... The state government must take care of all the expenses of the injured. The government must also compensate generously to all the families who have suffered losses..', Surya demanded. Surya also requested that the RCB management compensate the stampede victims as the team's moral responsibility towards its fans. 'No other team enjoys the kind of loyalty and fanfare as the RCB. Bengalurians treat RCB and RCB team members as a part of our own family, extended family. We have been there with you in terms of joy, in terms of, in times of celebration. Now it is time for RCB to also be in terms of distress and challenge with the fans and their families. RCB and RCB's superstar cricketers have made hundreds of crores from the love of fans over the last so many years. I think it is the moral responsibility of RCB to also generously compensate the victims of this stampede. And this is my request to the management of the RCB...' Surya said. On Wednesday, Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy accused Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar of being responsible for the stampede, alleging that the incident was caused by the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister's 'impatience, immaturity, and irresponsibility.' Addressing a late-night press conference at his official residence in New Delhi, the Union Minister demanded that 'the person responsible for this tragedy must be immediately sacked from the cabinet.' He criticised the Congress government in Karnataka as being run by 'arrogant fools' and said, 'We have a Chief Minister who is completely inactive. He has no control over the Deputy CM. As for the State Home Minister, there's no point in discussing it. He merely obeys commands.' Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar offered an apology. Speaking to ANI, DK Shivakumar said, 'This should not have happened and we never expected such a big stadium's capacity is 35,000, but more than 3 lakh people were (of the stadium) have been apologise for this want to know the facts and give a clear message...' He accused the BJP of politicising the incident. 'BJP is doing are very sorry for the incident. We will work out a better solution in the future...'The Congress leader also said that all government events scheduled for tomorrow have been postponed after the tragedy.'...Tomorrow, except the cabinet meeting, all programmes have been postponed. No celebrations, including the World Environment Day...' Shivakumar complimented the state police force for controlling the massive influx of people during the RCB celebrations.'Again, I'm telling on record. I should compliment my Police also, they wanted to have a procession, they wanted to bring a vehicle from the airport guided us not why I rushed to the airport and ensured nothing went Vidhana Soudha, also we were very cautious...,' DK Shivakumar said. Meanwhile, IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal expressed his condolences to families who lost their members in the stampede and said BCCI had no information that such an event was being planned.'This is a very unfortunate incident... We had no information that such an event was being planned... If such events are planned in the future, then proper arrangements should be made... Those who were sitting inside the stadium had no information about the incident,' Arun Dhumal told ANI. The incident occurred near the iconic M Chinnaswamy Stadium when thousands of fans gathered to catch a glimpse of their favourite players ahead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) IPL victory celebrations. The Karnataka government announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased killed in the stampede. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah addressed a press conference and said the government would also provide free treatment to the injured. 'A major tragedy occurred during the victory celebrations. It happened near the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The government has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the deceased. The government will provide free treatment to the injured,' the CM said. Expressing deep sorrow over the incident, CM Siddaramaiah said, '11 died and 33 were injured in the stampede. This tragedy should not have happened. The government expresses deep sorrow over this incident.'The Karnataka CM further asserted that he has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter.'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' time. 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,' CM Siddaramaiah said. RCB finally ended an 18-year wait for the coveted IPL trophy, defeating Punjab Kings by six wickets in the finals of IPL 2025, held on Tuesday at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. (ANI)
News18
4 days ago
- Politics
- News18
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya Slams Karnataka Govt Over Bengaluru Stampede, Calls It 'Avoidable'
Last Updated: Surya said that the government cannot 'blame RCB, Virat Kohli, or even the fans' for the tragedy. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya criticised the Congress-led Karnataka government regarding the Bengaluru stampede, which resulted in 11 fatalities, describing it as an 'avoidable" tragedy caused by 'state-orchestrated" negligence. He accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of issuing an open invitation to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fans without ensuring adequate security and crowd management arrangements, resulting in the loss of lives. 'The stampede was completely avoidable. It was state-orchestrated. Yesterday, the CM put out a tweet giving out an open invitation to everyone, knowing fully well the frenzy of the crowd of fans. He gives this open invitation without making adequate security, safety, and crowd management arrangements," the BJP MP told news agency ANI in Washington, DC. Surya said that the government cannot 'blame RCB, Virat Kohli, or even the fans" for the tragedy. 'If there is anyone responsible, it is the CM and the DCM who wanted to hog undeserving limelight and made this an entire family function of the Congress leaders," he said. The BJP MP said that the state government must take responsibility and provide monetary compensation to the families of the deceased, cover expenses of the injured, and generously compensate those who suffered losses. RCB should also stand by its loyal fans in this distressing time. 'Lives that have been lost cannot be brought back. Now, the state government must own up and monetarily compensate the families of those who lost their lives. Some young breadwinners have died in this stampede. The state government must take care of all the expenses of the injured. The government must also compensate generously all the families who have suffered losses," he said. 'No other team enjoys the kind of loyalty and fanfare as the RCB. Bengalurians treat RCB as their own family. We have been there with you in good and bad times, now it's time for RCB to stand up with their fans in times of distress," Surya added. According to the Karnataka government, 11 people have died and 47 were injured in the stampede, including some who received treatment and went home. A magisterial inquiry has been launched to determine the actual cause of the incident. Two major factors appear to have contributed to the tragedy: a complete lack of coordination between various agencies, including the law and order police, traffic police, KSCA, and Metro officials, as thousands of people poured into an arena like Chinnaswamy Stadium, which can accommodate only around 32,000 people at a time. The second was that the crowd's size and behaviour were grossly underestimated as people flooded into the area where the RCB team was being honoured. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published:
Scroll.in
21-04-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
Fiction: A retired man is forced to return to work after builders foil his attempts to buy a house
Shivaswamy shouldn't have gone to that interview. A man of sixty- two should have at least a tiny semblance of reality. It was an act of self-flagellation, really. He had known what might happen, but he had never imagined it would hurt him this much. He cursed himself a thousand times for going there. It was not just the interview; nothing went his way that day. Bad luck stalked him throughout the day – the kind of day astrologers call a Shani Dosha, filled with unheard-of difficulties. For the first time in the history of the Bengaluru Metro, all the trains on the Green Line were stopped for nearly forty-five minutes because of a technical glitch. When the trains resumed service, the station was overwhelmed by a crowd large enough to fill ten trains. The unbearable heat outside was intensified by the delayed monsoon. The black coat, soaked in sweat, clung to his body after years of disuse. The crowd was noisy, and the child beside him cried incessantly. He decided to call the company to let them know he was running late. He dialled the number of the person who had arranged the interview. She didn't answer. Frantically, he looked up the company's details on his mobile and called their front desk. The call was redirected to the company's head office in Sadashivanagar, not the Dickenson Road office where he was headed. Explaining his situation to the receptionist proved futile; she barely spoke above a whisper. With his free hand pressed against his other ear, he struggled to hear her over the child's piercing cry one metre away. Then, as the trains resumed their journeys, the rush prevented him from boarding the first two trains. Finally aboard, he found himself trapped in a space so tight he could only wiggle his toes. His neatly ironed clothes now bore the wrinkles of his ordeal. If someone were to tell this story to Bengalurians, they would certainly not believe it. They would say that such a thing could never happen in their metro. In the Shani Mahatmya story, no matter how many times King Vikramaditya claims that the swan from the painting jumped out and swallowed the necklace of the merchant's daughter Alolika, no one believes him. Shivaswamy's situation was no different. If you alight at the MG Road metro station, one exit leads you to Brigade Road, while another takes you in the opposite direction, towards Kamaraj Road. Shivaswamy was confused about which exit to take to reach DT Software Solutions. He took the wrong one, which added another fifteen minutes to the delay. If everything had gone according to his plan before he left home, he should have been thirty minutes early for his appointment. But instead, he was an hour late. The question of what this meant for him – to be so late for an interview, with thirty-five years of HR management experience – tortured him endlessly. That day was different for him in other ways too. Until that point, he had always been the one conducting interviews from the safety of the panel, never the one under scrutiny. As an HR representative, he had mastered the art of questioning others, not of answering as an applicant. After a lengthy technical interview, when it was his turn, he would ask a few HR questions and jot down the words: 'The candidate possesses adequate communication skills. Her attitude is satisfactory.' Thus considering his role complete. This was only the second time in his life that he was giving a job interview. A daunting thirty-five-year hiatus separated the first and the second. Would he have written 'His attitude is satisfactory' about an applicant who was an hour late? His brain ached. By the time he reached, he felt utterly drained. The pain in his knee had flared up after he raced up and down the metro station stairs hurriedly. The heat and humidity were unbearable. Sweat streamed down his face, soaking his south Indian salt-and-pepper moustache. A musty odour assaulted his senses when he tried to wipe it away with his handkerchief. To add to his troubles, he felt an urgent need to visit the restroom. But the woman at the front desk, who was in charge of escorting him to the interview room, was brusque. 'You're an hour late. Senior executives are awaiting your arrival!' However, Shivaswamy just had to go. His diabetes, presumably, rendered him unable to delay this any longer. With impatience, she pointed him towards the restroom and then busied herself with her mobile. But the restroom unnerved him further. It was a luxurious lavatory, dazzling white. One wall was lined with flawless mirrors, and the countertops were adorned with flowerpots, all under a soft white light, like beams of the moon. Shivaswamy felt apprehensive, as though his very presence would taint its sanctity. The pungent smell of bleach powder from the toilets of the Ghaziabad office, where he had worked for thirty-five years, was so ingrained in his memory that he firmly believed toilets were defined by that very odour. How could he adapt to the chemical fragrance of this software company's restroom? The thought of skipping the interview and returning home crossed his mind. But it was too late now. As he entered the interview room, the unexpected sight of someone his age caused the three interviewers to look up in surprise. They hastily skimmed the printed profile of the candidate before them, eager to confirm his age.' This is just an HR manager's position. You've retired from a senior role at Bharat Electronics Limited. You've come fully informed, haven't you?' asked the woman on the panel. It is better if what happened at the interview is never discussed. None of the questions pleased Shivaswamy, nor did his answers satisfy the interviewers. The details and examples he offered appeared disconnected from the company's requirements. It was evident to everyone, including Shivaswamy, that his application wouldn't progress further. Despite that realisation, he was exasperated by the interviewers' relentless provocation. Had it not been cut short, he would have stood up and left the room. Sensing the situation, it was they who finally brought the torturous experience to an end. By the time he stepped out of the room, he was consumed by both despair and frustration. Would the day get better now? In his anxious state, he set off for the metro station but lost his way again. On a strangely deserted road, there wasn't a soul he could ask for directions. The blistering sun pierced his neck like sharp needles. A watchman sat slumped on a chair in front of a lifeless bungalow. When woken up, he showed him the correct route, finally. Going back the same way he had come, after switching two trains, he reached Talaghattapura on the city's outskirts. He was utterly exhausted by the time he walked home from the station. Whenever Shivaswamy thought about what happened in the interview that day, he was reminded of a scene from a wildlife show he'd once watched on TV: three tiger cubs, newly taught how to hunt, relentlessly pursued an old deer, struggling to make a kill. The deer, for its part, did not give in easily.
