SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2025
Bengaluru Stampede: Glory to Grief
Published on Jun 8, 2025
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- The moment Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the first time since the beginning of this cash-rich tournament 18 years ago, it was known to everyone that over a lakh people would gather in the garden city to greet the victorious side. Thus, the state government was duty-bound to take precautionary measures well in advance to control the huge crowd. The government not only failed to take such measures, but its decision to prevent the IPL-winning side from taking out a victory parade—on the pretext of traffic jams on the congested city roads—actually added fuel to the fire. Being denied a chance to get a glimpse of their heroes, all the fans who had gathered on both sides of the road from the airport to the Chinnaswamy Stadium frantically started moving towards the stadium, where the much-publicised felicitation programme was scheduled to be held. As a result, more than two lakh people started jostling to enter a stadium with a capacity of only thirty-three thousand—and the tragic incident took place.
- It’s a clear example of the collective failure of the state administration, RCB team management, and the Karnataka Cricket Association (KCA) officials. All of them did nothing to reduce the hype associated with winning the coveted trophy for the first time in 18 years. Rather, in their own wisdom, they contributed generously towards the tragedy.
- Firstly, anticipating the huge frenzy associated with cricket and cricketers in the country, the state government should have made a proper plan so that the celebration could take place without a hitch. In this context, the denial of permission for holding a roadshow citing traffic snarls had all the ingredients of an impending tragedy. The decision shows the authorities' poor knowledge of crowd control. Moreover, if smooth movement of traffic happens to be the priority, how can political leaders and parties often take out roadshows, processions, etc.? So, the authorities would have done well to allow the roadshow to prevent people from gathering in one place.
- Furthermore, it is quite perplexing to note that a misinformation campaign about free entry to the stadium was doing the rounds on social media for a long time, and no one made any effort to stop it from spreading. Again, all the concerned parties should have made an effort to find a compromise formula, rather than trying to outsmart each other. The police never came up with any alternative plan after putting an embargo on the roadshow. On the other hand, the organisers of the felicitation programme never made proper arrangements to accommodate large crowds in such a small stadium. Rather, their arrogance came to light when the event was not stopped after the tragedy. It’s a lame excuse that the news of the outside turmoil never reached inside the stadium, especially in the age of information technology. It proves that the organisers really cared a hoot for those people for whom cricket is a religion and the cricketers are demi-gods.
Nagaland Districts
