Karur tragedy: Stalin blames Vijay’s 7-hr delay and TVK’s mismanagement

The political slugfest over the ghastly Karur stampede, which claimed 41 lives, spilled over to the Tamil Nadu Assembly with Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Wednesday, squarely blaming actor-turned-neta Vijay and his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) for the September 27 tragedy.

“The 7-hour delay of Vijay’s arrival at the venue and disregarding advice from the police, coupled with gross scheduling mismanagement, had inevitably led to the stampede. Despite the huge crowd waiting since morning, the TVK had failed to ensure basic amenities like water and food for the people as well as toilet facilities,” Stalin told the House.

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Giving details of the sequence that led to the stampede, Stalin said, “While the police were told that the rally would last for five hours from 3 pm, the TVK had announced that Vijay would arrive by noon itself, which forced the police to revise the security deployment. Finally, he arrived seven hours later, accompanied by a crowd following him. His bus too was stalled, yet despite repeated requests by the police to stop the vehicle at a distance and address the rally, the organisers pushed it further into the crowd, which resulted in chaos as both sides of the road were already crowded. This is the prime reason for the stampede,” the Chief Minister explained, adding that TVK workers had attacked two ambulance drivers requisitioned by the police to help the injured.

Further, Stalin said emergency services personnel who were out to help the injured were attacked, and their vehicles were targeted and vandalised. Debunking the conspiracy theory of the TVK, he made it clear that, as claimed by the party, there was no power shutdown, but only the generator was powered down to prevent untoward incidents.

The Chief Minister also blamed the unruly behaviour of the TVK supporters and said every political party had to take responsibility for the orderly conduct of its public programmes. “At the same venue, two days prior to the TVK rally, the AIADMK had conducted an event that was peaceful and incident-free. More police security was provided for the TVK rally than usual, and permission was granted upon 11 conditions. Even at the last moment, a Dy SP urged the organisers to stop the vehicle from proceeding further into the crowd. But it went unheeded,” he explained.

On the Government’s medical response, he said a total of 152 medical and paramedical personnel from nearby districts were rushed to Karur, and 400 additional beds were brought in, and a 24-member team of doctors carried out the autopsy with special permission obtained from the District Collector.

“No party or leader would desire the death of their party cadre and supporters, as well as common people. When regulations are violated, those affected are the cadre of the party and every party should keep this in mind in holding rallies,” he pointed out and appealed to all political parties and organisations to take pledge that such a tragedy should never recur.

The AIADMK members, who arrived at the House with black wrist bands, staged a dharna by sitting on the floor and then staged a walkout, unconvinced by the Chief Minister’s explanation. They were also warned by the Speaker that he would call the marshals. Later, party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) questioned the ‘haste’ in conducting the post-mortem on the victims and completing them before dawn. “Why the ruling party rattled? Had proper security been given, the tragedy could have been averted,” he said, and alleged that the venue for the rally was allotted for the rally with a predetermined intention that something untoward should happen.