Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has blamed the Cricket Association for the stampede that occurred outside Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium during RCB's IPL victory celebration. Hitting back at BJP’s criticism, he referred to similar tragedies such as the Mahakumbh stampede, stating that such incidents should not be politicized. The CM termed the Bengaluru stampede as an “unforeseen accident.”
Speaking at a press conference, Siddaramaiah said, “The government and the Cricket Association jointly organized the victory parade. No one expected such an incident. The stadium has a capacity of 35,000, but a crowd of 3–4 lakh gathered outside.”
The incident, which took place on Wednesday evening, left 11 dead and several injured. Massive crowds had gathered outside the stadium to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s long-awaited IPL win. Overwhelmed by the crowd size, the situation escalated into a stampede. The CM acknowledged that concerns over crowd management had already been raised, and the stampede further intensified those fears.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Siddaramaiah wrote, “The pain of this tragedy has overshadowed the joy of victory.”
The BJP has been targeting the Congress government over the tragedy. Responding to this, CM Siddaramaiah said, “I don’t want to politicize this. BJP is doing politics over the incident. There was a stampede during the Mahakumbh too. Should we play politics over every such tragedy?”
Siddaramaiah placed responsibility on the Cricket Association, saying, “They organized the event in the stadium. We granted permission. Even outside the Assembly, a crowd had gathered—but no incident occurred there. The Cricket Association is responsible for this.”
CM Siddaramaiah also visited Boring and Vydehi Hospitals to meet the injured and their families. He stated that the government had not approved a large-scale celebration due to safety concerns, but the crowd exceeded all expectations. “We stand with the victims,” he added.
He announced a ₹10 lakh compensation for the families of those who lost their lives and confirmed that the government will cover all medical expenses for the injured. “The stadium had small gates. People broke through them. A stampede broke out. Nobody could have anticipated it,” the CM explained.