Did the VIP culture cost 11 lives of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fans in Bengaluru on Wednesday, a day after the high-octane celebrations of RCB’s victory in the IPL 2025?
The Siddaramaiah government, which denied permission to the RCB to hold a victory parade citing “security concerns”, chose to hold a grand event to felicitate the RCB players on the grand steps of the Vidhana Soudha, at such short notice and without proper steps to manage the crowds.
Even as the Congress government has successfully tried to shift the focus on the stampede at the stadium, many are of the view that the Vidhana Soudha event was uncalled for as the victory celebration was meant to be only an RCB fans’ meet, either as a roadshow or at the stadium.
Netizens point out that the chief minister and the deputy chief minister could have felicitated the players in the stadium, but they chose to do it at the Vidhana Soudha to benefit their family and friends, overlooking the perils of a huge turnout in the high-security zone - Ambedkar Veedhi, that is sandwiched between the High Court and the Vidhana Soudha (secretariat building).
While the ‘VIPs’ got busy clicking selfies, the RCB fans who had turned up in thousands to catch a glimpse of the players, especially Virat Kohli, vandalised the barricades, and threw chappals and stones.
The charged-up crowds moved towards the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which was only a kilometre away. This resulted in a dangerous gridlock in the central business district. The police were outnumbered by the unruly fans.
Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, who personally received the RCB team at HAL airport and managed the Vidhana Soudha event and also came to the stadium to raise the toast, admitted the administration’s failure to pre-empt the tragedy.
“This was our folly. We have lost our face and brought shame to the state. The BJP is playing politics. We did deny permission to the victory parade. But you saw how the crowd was flinging bottles and chappals at the media (near Vidhana Soudha),” Shivakumar said.
Surprisingly, even after the senior police officers complained that the forces were fatigued after the previous night’s frenzy, where the victory celebrations were held across the state all through the night, the government was adamant over holding two separate events.
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The previous night, the fans went ballistic, wheeling and racing on the motorbikes and bursting crackers on the streets, as the RCB, which has the largest fan following among IPL franchises, ended an 18-year-old wait for an IPL trophy with the final win over Punjab Kings.
Despite this, and Virat Kohli’s announcement of a “victory parade” in Bengaluru, the government claimed that the huge turnout was “unexpected”.
CM Siddaramaiah said. “We did not expect such a huge crowd.”
Outside the stadium, the police watched helplessly, unable to control the frenzied crowd that was trying to push the gates open to enter the stadium, which had already reached more than its full capacity of 35,000.
With no public address system to disperse the crowds, and the unruly behaviour of several fans who climbed up the compound walls, trees and the gates, the situation soon turned grim. A gate crashed down causing fractures and injuries. The high number of casualties, eyewitnesses claim, was because of the absence of any ambulance service at the spot. The lack of preparation was evident as there was no safe passage for ambulances and police vehicles, nor were the major roads around the stadium cordoned off.
Home Minister G Parameshwara did not comment on the apparent mismanagement. “Eleven persons have died, 56 injured. Of the injured, 46 have been discharged and the remaining 10 are undergoing treatment and are said to be out of danger. We will bring in an SOP to tackle crowd assessment and management systems to avert tragedies in future.”
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the stampede case and will hear the case on Thursday at 2.30pm. Some lawyers have complained to the court saying the crowds had climbed up the trees and buildings in the court complex causing a serious security breach.
