Did Vijay take responsibility for Karur stampede? Inside details of TVK leader's meeting with victims' families at Mahabalipuram resort

A month after 41 people died in a stampede during a rally of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam at Karur, actor-politician Vijay met the families of the victims personally. Hold on! Vijay did not go to Karur to meet them. The condolence meeting on Monday was held at a swanky beachside resort at Mahabalipuram, on the outskirts of Chennai, a little away from Vijay's Neelankarai residence. 

A total of 37 out of the 41 families arrived at the beach resort on Sunday evening by Volvo buses organised by the TVK party and Vijay’s close aides. The families were made to travel over 400km, all the way from Karur to Chennai, to meet Vijay and take his consolation back home. 

The meeting, which began in the morning on Monday, went on till 5pm, with Vijay meeting each family individually. According to inside sources, Vijay met each of the families privately inside an auditorium. The meeting with each of the families went on for 15 to 20 minutes, and Vijay openly apologised to them for their loss with folded hands. While all the families were made to assemble at the auditorium, Vijay spoke with each of the families privately from behind a screen. “One family was allowed to meet him at a time, and he apologised to every member in the family individually. He promised to support the families for their entire lifetime,” senior party leaders told THE WEEK on conditions of anonymity. 

Sources also said that he even fell on the feet of one or two families when emotions ran high inside the room where he met the families. Vijay paid floral tributes to the photos of the victims brought in by the family members. Sources also said Vijay apologised to the families for making them travel all the way from Karur. “Our leader promised to visit them at Karur when he comes there next time. He also received petitions from them and promised whatever help they wanted,” a senior leader told THE WEEK.

Incidentally, due to the heavy backlash faced by Vijay and his party in recent days, TVK chose to hold it as a closed event, without any media limelight. TVK party men, apparently, worked overtime to convince the family members to come in person and meet Vijay to take his condolence and consolation. On Saturday, hours before the families could set out to meet Vijay at Mahabalipuram, at least 21 of the 41 families refused to visit him, saying that Vijay should visit him, and not the other way round. 

But the TVK office bearers took time to convince most of the families by saying that his visit would attract a huge crowd once again, and he is still grief-stricken because of the stampede and the death of 41 people. While four of the 41 families could not be convinced, including the two who filed petitions in the Supreme Court, Vijay’s party men brought the others to the beachside resort. 

At the resort, according to sources, extensive arrangements were made for the families for a comfortable stay; breakfast, lunch and other requirements were arranged by TVK. However, Vijay’s supporters and his party men maintain that the shift in venue, to meet the families, from Karur to Chennai, was because a huge crowd would gather if he visits in person and because they could not find a marriage hall in Karur to meet the victim families. “This is because of logistical and security issues. Vijay is always with the people, and for the people,” said one of the office bearers who was part of the condolence meeting organising team at Mahabalipuram. 

A total of 41 people, including 10 children and 18 women, died in a stampede in Karur, during Vijay’s political rally on September 27. Vijay, who released a three-minute video three days after the incident, chose to stay indoors, while his sympathisers and supporters said that it was an administrative failure that led to the fatal stampede. But all the 41 who died in Karur were not just from there but were also from Erode, Dindigul, Tiruppur, and Salem districts. “Meeting each family at their place is not feasible as the police have not given permission to him,” says one of the TVK office bearers.

Despite explanations and clarifications, Vijay’s Monday meeting at a Mahabalipuram beachside resort, which is just 20km away from his Neelankarai residence, has made his own fans and followers express discomfort. “I didn’t expect this. Last year, one of our party office bearers died in an accident after the Vikravandi conference. He did not even express his grief to the family. Till now, no word of consolation came from Vijay. And now, he calls all the families from Karur, Erode, Salem and other districts to meet him,” one of the TVK district secretaries from the western region told THE WEEK.