Latest news with #RamachandraGuha
The Hindu
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Suspension of police commissioner rankles police establishment
'Karnataka's ruling politicians and cricket administrators are jointly responsible for Wednesday's tragedy. Their greedy lust for reflected glory led to it. To make an outstanding officer a scapegoat is reprehensible.' -- Ramachandra Guha, Historian The unprecedented suspension of the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner over the stampede at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, that claimed 11 lives, has left the police rank and file across the State deeply disgruntled. While those in service are unable to give vent to it their anger, at least three former Bengaluru City Police Commissioners -- Jyoti Prakash Mirji, Bhaskar Rao and N.S. Megharik -- have openly condemned the government's action and said the police were being made 'scapegoats.' Where is preliminary probe? Mr. Mirji termed the government action 'irresponsible' and done to 'save their own skin.' 'There was not even a preliminary inquiry conducted which found a prima facie lapse. How could a commissioner be suspended like this?' he questioned. Mr. Rao, now associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), took to social media and said this was the 'darkest day in the history of Karnataka police' and said this was 'the prize for telling the truth and slogging the whole night to keep Bengaluru safe.' Mr. Megharik said that the police were only a small part of the event and there were bigger stakeholders. 'Mistakes may happen but this is not the way to deal with them. As IPS and former Commissioners fraternity, we are upset,' he said on Friday. IPS officers' Association, Karnataka, was scheduled to meet on Friday evening to chart their next course of action, but the meeting was postponed at the last minute. Plans are on to meet the Chief Minister and register their protest at the decision, multiple sources said. One of the IPS officers suspended is expected to challenge his suspension in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). Sources said the police fraternity is trying to build a strong case to counter the political leadership's allegation that they were not kept in loop about the event at the stadium and also to show how the police advice was overruled. Anger against political class A senior officer from the city rued that the political leadership first put pressure on them to hold a big celebration at short notice, overruling their advice, and later 'betrayed' them as a face-saving ploy. 'There is anger in the force even among juniors. How do we pacify or control them when our leadership has disregarded and unfairly made us scapegoats?' asked a senior officer. Another officer said that when things had gone wrong, they were being asked whether they had rejected the proposal for the event in writing. 'If the default mode of thinking of officers becomes how to save themselves from the axe, it will be a blow to policing,' he said. Public support Meanwhile, the city police have been getting public support from citizens online. The campaign #IstandwithBangalorePolice was trending on social media on Friday. City-based historian, who has written extensively on cricket, Ramachandra Guha, took to social media and wrote: 'Karnataka's ruling politicians and cricket administrators are jointly responsible for Wednesday's tragedy. Their greedy lust for reflected glory led to it. To make an outstanding officer a scapegoat is reprehensible'. Suspension has to be ratified by Centre The suspension of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers has to be ratified by the Union Government within 30 days and if they reject it, the suspension gets revoked, sources said. With the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular) coming to the support of the police, claiming the Congress government has made them 'scapegoats', this procedural requirement may take a political turn, sources said. 'Procedurally, the government should have conducted a preliminary inquiry and suspended officials based on the report. No such inquiry was completed before suspension. This may become a bone of contention,' a senior IPS officer said.
Hindustan Times
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Lessons and questions from Bengaluru stampede tragedy that took 11 young lives
The stampede near Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, which claimed the lives of 11 young people, most of them under 30, stands as one of the city's most heartbreaking and wholly avoidable tragedies in recent memory. Known once as the "Pensioner's Paradise," Bengaluru now finds itself in national headlines for reasons both mundane and tragic. But this — a stampede linked to a cricket celebration — is something the city was neither prepared for nor accustomed to. When Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally lifted their maiden IPL trophy after 18 years, it was a moment of uncontainable joy for fans. The team's signature chant, "Ee Sala Cup Namde", had finally turned into reality. The fatal events unfolded within less than 24 hours of RCB's title win. Without any clear coordination between the RCB management, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), and the state government, an open-top bus parade was publicly announced by RCB early on June 4. The rally was set to start from Vidhana Soudha to Chinnaswamy Stadium — right through Bengaluru's busiest Central Business District. Also Read - Ramachandra Guha slams Karnataka government: 'Top cop made a scapegoat in Bengaluru tragedy' But here lies the first big question, 'Was the Bengaluru Police informed?". RCB's announcement of the 'Victory Parade' appeared to have caught city police off guard. Just two hours later, police issued a public statement saying the parade was cancelled. To add to the confusion, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar welcomed the RCB team at the airport and took them to Vidhana Soudha, further fueling assumptions that celebrations were still on. Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma, present with her husband Virat Kohli, even posted videos of the massive crowd chasing the team bus, calling the experience 'unbelievable.' Also Read - Karnataka CM's political secretary K Govindaraj sacked amid Bengaluru stampede outrage
Hindustan Times
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Unplanned, unapproved, unforgivable: Lessons and questions from Bengaluru stampede tragedy that took 11 young lives
The fatal events unfolded within less than 24 hours of RCB's title win. Without any clear coordination between the RCB management, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), and the state government, an open-top bus parade was publicly announced by RCB early on June 4. The rally was set to start from Vidhana Soudha to Chinnaswamy Stadium — right through Bengaluru's busiest Central Business District. Also Read - Ramachandra Guha slams Karnataka government: 'Top cop made a scapegoat in Bengaluru tragedy' But here lies the first big question, 'Was the Bengaluru Police informed?". RCB's announcement of the 'Victory Parade' appeared to have caught city police off guard. Just two hours later, police issued a public statement saying the parade was cancelled due to security concerns and lack of clearance. Yet, the damage was already done. Thousands of fans had already begun making their way to the stadium, assuming the event would proceed. To add to the confusion, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar welcomed the RCB team at the airport and took them to Vidhana Soudha, further fueling assumptions that celebrations were still on. Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma, present with her husband Virat Kohli, even posted videos of the massive crowd chasing the team bus, calling the experience 'unbelievable.' Clearly, there was no clarity on whether this was a cancelled event or an impromptu, unsanctioned celebration. Also Read - Karnataka CM's political secretary K Govindaraj sacked amid Bengaluru stampede outrage Multiple reports suggest that the Bengaluru Police had raised red flags about the parade, but there was internal pressure to go ahead regardless. The result? Mismanaged crowds, no clear access routes, and a deadly stampede triggered by sheer chaos outside a stadium that already struggles to handle traffic on a match day. Chinnaswamy Stadium has hosted similar crowds before. But what made this different was the false promise and the idea that fans could just show up and catch a glimpse of their heroes celebrating up close — without a plan. These are not just questions for a press conference. These are questions that decide whether such a tragedy will ever happen again. No victory — no matter how historic — is worth human lives. And no photograph or selfie with a trophy can be more important than public safety. What the Bengaluru stampede teaches us is stark, when institutional arrogance and coordination failures meet fan frenzy, disaster is inevitable. Whether it's Bengaluru, Prayagraj, Goa, or Tirupati — stampedes are not acts of God. They are products of neglect, poor planning, and sometimes, sheer ego. And until those in power — sports franchises, civic leaders, and governments — take responsibility instead of hiding behind 'suspensions' and 'probes', such tragedies will repeat. As fans, it's important to remember: celebration is not worth dying for. And as a society, we must ensure that no city becomes a stage for yet another avoidable tragedy.
Mint
2 days ago
- Sport
- Mint
What Bengaluru's leaders have forgotten about legacy
On Tuesday night, 3 June, as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket team won its first Indian Premier League title, I felt a sudden unease. Not because I don't love cricket or the joy of celebrations—I do—but because I've lived long enough in Bengaluru to dread what happens next. Traffic snarls, jammed roads becoming choking funnels, rains turning half-built streets into muddy rivers. So, instinctively, I started mapping my next day's routes, mentally avoiding potential flashpoints. But not once—not even remotely—did I imagine lives would be lost celebrating something as simple as a cricket victory. And yet, painfully, that's exactly what happened. By Wednesday night, 11 people had died in a stampede at Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium. Among them: the 18-year-old son of a pani puri seller; a 14-year-old girl who'd arrived excited and hopeful; and a 22-year-old engineering student proudly wearing his RCB jersey. Families stood shattered outside mortuaries, unable to comprehend how quickly celebration had turned to devastation. When I heard politicians responding casually—some even comparing this avoidable disaster to stampedes at massive events like the Kumbh Mela—I felt a deep, searing anguish. My thoughts turned to Whitefield, Gunjur, and Varthur—places where I've stood helplessly watching commuters struggle, fall, and bleed on neglected roads. Lives continue to be quietly damaged every day, as if we've all become numb. Meanwhile, we live surrounded by concrete jungles rising rapidly, apartments still unfinished, some with nothing more than a foundation stone and yet brazenly proclaiming 'Live in Nature's Womb." Irony couldn't be crueler. It wasn't always this way. Bengaluru once had leaders who, despite their flaws, were acutely aware of the legacies they would leave behind. Consider the Wodeyars of Mysuru. Yes, their rule was feudal and complicated, yet it held a genuine commitment to lasting change. Historian Ramachandra Guha, in his landmark book India After Gandhi, points out how Krishna Raja Wodeyar IV, guided by visionary engineer Sir M. Visvesvaraya, built the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam—not for short-term applause, but to ensure prosperity for generations. Janaki Nair, in her insightful book The Promise of the Metropolis: Bangalore's Twentieth Century, highlights how the Wodeyars granted vast stretches of land to establish institutions like the Indian Institute of Science, investing quietly yet profoundly in a future beyond themselves. Travel further back and you encounter the Hoysalas. Their extraordinary temples at Belur and Halebidu, as art historian Gerard Foekema describes in Architecture Decorated with Architecture: Later Medieval Temples of Karnataka, weren't mere vanity projects. They were deliberate gifts to future generations—cultural treasures still admired centuries later. Cut to today. Bengaluru's infrastructure is crumbling. Ambulances sit paralyzed in traffic, helplessly unable to reach those in need. Meanwhile, startup valuations and Shark Tank theatrics dominate headlines; IPL wins overshadow basic public safety. We've even embraced 'doglapan"—that shameless hypocrisy of our business and political elites—as a form of casual entertainment, further numbing us to the negligence and chaos unfolding around us. Yet beneath this glossy surface, our roads remain a cruel reminder of the city's neglect—daily accidents, broken commuters, mud mixing with blood, and ironic billboards promising utopia amid urban chaos. History, though, remembers differently. It records every choice, every moment of disregard. Bengaluru's rulers must realize that true legacies are built from mindful acts of responsibility that are performed consistently. Bengaluru's leaders need to think deeply about how history will remember them—not as overseers of a city in decay, but as mindful stewards who choose accountability and care over spectacle and neglect. History never forgets. It's time Bengaluru's leaders remembered this, too.
Scroll.in
2 days ago
- General
- Scroll.in
Ramachandra Guha interview: Is environmentalism in India an import from the West?
Environmentalism, historian and columnist Ramachandra Guha has written, is thought to be a 'full-stomach phenomenon' – it's believed to be a Western concern because people in countries like India are simply too poor to be green. That's a myth that he conclusively blows apart in his latest book, Speaking With Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism. The book is an exploration of the explores the work of ten individuals who – though not all of them Indian – have warned about the dangers of environmental degradation from an Indian point of view. With Speaking With Nature, Guha returns to his roots. His first book, The Unquiet Woods, was about Chipko movement to conserve forests in Uttarakhand. And several other of his early works concerned the environment. They include This Fissured Land and Ecology and Equity, both co-authored with Madhav Gadgil and How Much Should a Person Consume?: Thinking Through the Environment. In this interview with Scroll editor Naresh Fernandes on World Environment Day, he explains why India would be an environmental disaster zone even if the crisis of climate change did not exist and elaborates on the role of the ten figures in his book who 'played a pioneering role in shaping global conversations about humanity's relationship with nature'.
