RCB’s Devastating Crowd Tragedy Amid Historic Win:
It was supposed to be a day of pure joy, of celebration and pride, instead Bengaluru is in shock today. I am sure you have seen the news and the pictures, Bengaluru was all decked up for a massive celebration today. Their IPL team had finally won the tournament. The Royal Challengers beat Punjab Kings yesterday. It was their first IPL trophy in 18 years. The RCB fans are a very passionate lot, plus they have been waiting for a win since 2008, so they packed the streets of Bengaluru in celebration.
We are talking about tens of thousands of people,Around afternoon, the team landed in Bengaluru. First, they headed to the state legislature building. The players were felicitated by the Karnataka government. But the main event was 3 km away, at RCD’s home ground, the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. And that is where things went horribly wrong. The stadium has a capacity of 32,000, but the government says some 2-3 lakh fans had gathered. Pretty soon, the fan frenzy turned fatal.
The exact details are not clear yet, but reports say the rush led to a stampede. At least 11 people were killed, including children, and more than 30 were injured. Like I said, the exact sequence of events is unclear, but these pictures give you an idea. You can see fans climbing up fences and trees. In some places, the police pushed back with force. We will show you the pictures, but as always, viewer discretion is advised.Please shake you up. Just think about those eager RCB fans.
They probably went to sleep yesterday full of hope. Maybe they couldn’t sleep from all the excitement. And today they arrived at the Chittor Swami at a place that has given them so many good memories. Today’s event was supposed to be one such memory until it turned fatal. This was not some unpredictable earthquake. This was not torrential rains.
This was a man-made tragedy. So questions will be asked. The Karnataka state government is being grilled on the preparations.
Were there enough police officials on the ground?
Did they underestimate the football?
And were there no crowd control measures?
Karnataka Chief Minister has ordered an investigation. Here’s what he told the press.
Chief Minister (Karnataka):-
SIDDARAMAIAH
“I do not want to defend the incident, the tragedy that so happened. I do not want to defend, I do not want to play politics in this small case. The people entered through the gates. They have broken the gates. They have broken the gates also. So, Stampede has taken place. Of course, it should not have happened. This tragedy should not have happened. We are with the sufferers, with these.”
The event was cut short and wrapped up within 10-15 minutes. Initially, a bus parade had also been planned, that too was cancelled, but who takes responsibility for the tragedy?
What about the IPL authorities?
They have no idea who organized this event. In other words, nobody is willing to take responsibility, all of them want fans to make money, but when it comes to protecting those fans, they pass the buck.
This is not limited to India. Last week, French football club PSG won the Champions League, like RCB, for their first triumph. So major celebrations broke out in Paris. Unfortunately, two people were killed in those celebrations, and more than 200 were injured. Now, Paris is around 2 million people. Bengaluru has 14 million.
The fact is, crowd control has always been a problem in India. Some 4,000 stampedes have been reported since 1996. Put together, 3,000 lives have been lost, and every time it is the same template. Point fingers and move on.
What we need is a playbook going forward. Crowd control is all about anticipation and preparation. If you deploy enough people, if you plan well enough, then any crowd can be controlled.Of course, before any of this, comes the most important part. Acknowledging the value of human life. These people are not statistics on a page. They had a life.
They had a family of their own. All they wanted was to celebrate their team’s success. If that is too much to ask, then we must in respect as a country.
