Karur stampede: Has time come to review crowd control at rallies? Experts debate

India Today

Days after the deadly stampede at actor Vijay's political rally in Tamil Nadu's Karur, a massive political blame game has erupted over accountability.

Transcript

00:00So let's raise the big questions the Vijay Rally Stampede who really is to blame the big question

00:06of course will accountability be fixed and has it come has the time come to review crowd control

00:12at major political rallies joining me now Selam Dhardi Dharan he's spokesperson of the DMK

00:19our Rangarajan former IS officer joins me and Chandra Mohan Chennai based activist is also

00:26with us appreciate you're joining us Mr. Dhardi Dharan let me come to you first

00:29yours is the government in power there's a sense that you do not want to fix accountability

00:35beyond the point you haven't named actor Vijay in the FIR he stays away from it because you fear he

00:42could become a political martyr and you quickly ordered a one-man judicial probe you don't seem

00:48to want a wider CBI probe is the DMK worried ahead of elections next year to actually have a full

00:55inquiry that will actually fix accountability

00:59see firstly I would like to express my condolences to the family members who lost their loved ones and

01:09wish me a story for those returning in the hospital

01:13my chief minister himself said on the on the day of the incident that his first problem is to make

01:19sure that people who are injured are cured quickly and sent back home and those who have lost their

01:24loved ones to make sure their families do not suffer that are the first and foremost thing for

01:30the chief minister and that is why on the same day at 9 pm he chaired a high profile meeting and

01:36immediately after that he flew and went to karur at 2 am the ministers went to the hospital at 8 30 pm

01:44itself why this has happened we have to understand the firstly and foremost Vijay was supposed to come

01:49at 8 45 in namakal right but he came he addressed namakal rally at 1 pm he was supposed to address

01:57karur rally at 1 pm but he addresses only at 7 pm so what and because of the rally all the shops

02:04nearby were closed so there was no water or food arrangements by the tvk carders or party people

02:11so what had happened people had started fainting even in namakal itself at 1 pm 37 people had fainted

02:16and and many dozens had gone to the hospital in the ambulance and second when Vijay okay he came

02:23very late people are already fatigued um dehydrated at five o'clock he's as a surprise normally in the

02:30entire road show he will stand on the podium and wave to people or sit in the front seat with the

02:35light on he will wave at people by sitting on the seat but on the contrary this time i don't know

02:40what reason maybe he thought he wanted to congratulate as many people as possible

02:43he went inside the uh caravan lights were turned off so people could have a glimpse of him so they

02:49went crazy they started following mad because they had been waiting for seven hours to see him

02:52and he is not visible so they were following and then police stopped sir the sequence of events now

03:00is well known mr dhabdi darand the sequence of events is well known i asked the question today

03:05about accountability will accountability be fixed 41 people have lost their lives

03:10yes we are being accountable but my primary point is that why did he do that why did not listen to

03:17the dsp there and why did he not why did he throw water bottles people his followers see him as god

03:23when he throws water bottles people want to get it because he's giving so why so then why have you

03:27not why have you not find an fir against why is he not named in the fir why is the why if vijay is

03:35responsible why is he not named in the fir fir has been filed but not a charge sheet investigation is

03:42happening if we if his general secretary deputy general secretary will be investigated the after

03:49that vijay will be uh if he's for found uh made a mistake then he'll also be arrested but most

03:55important the matter is also substance they've also got tv came serve go to the court so the first is to

04:04make sure that those who are injured are taken care and then to make sure what and then to see what

04:09went wrong and then who all have done wrong will not be spared even if that includes people away

04:15apart from tvk party if anyone has done anything wrong don't be spared but we have to wait there

04:20is a one member judicial committee which was immediately announced within one hour and then

04:24there is police investigation that's underway no charge yet filed no one will be spared why would

04:30my chief minister want to spare anyone we 41 lives have been lost my chief minister is not able to sleep

04:34right okay you're saying you're saying no one will be spared uh you're saying no one will be spared

04:41chandra okay you made your point chandramon you want to respond here is the dmk spokesperson saying

04:46no one will be spared do you believe that we are caught in a typical political blame game

04:52and thereby accountability will never get really fixed

04:56absolutely rajdee 41 people died not because of fate because of failure because of zero accountability

05:09because everybody is on the blame game for the past two days i am sick and tired of hearing

05:18both tvk and dmk blaming each other for this nobody actually cares about a common man's life

05:25my life my kids life all our lives are dispensable for these people that is what i have figured out

05:31in all these years of activism in india life has no sanctity no dignity at all especially if you are

05:38poor you know god help you nobody even god can help you that is the case here now here's the thing right

05:44now there are two things yeah but there is there but but chandra ball there will also be questions

05:49there will also be questions there are fan frenzy yeah whether it was in bengaluru a few months ago

05:55during an ipl function or now at a vijay rally if friend how do you control frenzied fans i mean

06:01frenzied fans must also start taking responsibility for their action if you are going to sit on a tree branch

06:06then you could could yes suffer

06:10yes i i am coming to that there are two three things i want to uh make it very clear first of all

06:19when a party is asking to conduct a public event they should first take responsibility for what happens

06:26now what i have seen in this past two days tbk has no you know idea to take responsibility they went into

06:33hiding okay that clearly shows they don't give a damn about the people who have come to see them

06:39okay now second responsibility is with the government now let me ask the dmk spokesperson this question

06:48when vips come there is a safety protocol right and it is strictly followed right so there is no safety

06:55protocol for common men like me and the people who died over there we are dispensable why wasn't the

07:01safety protocol not ensured was not implemented was not enforced didn't the police have autonomy

07:09didn't the government give the police autonomy to stop the meeting when they see the crowd amount of

07:14people that came in already and then when vijay came in he brought in more than you know six thousand

07:19seven thousand eight thousand people from the existing crowd and everybody is know everybody knows that

07:25it is not feasible in a place like that it is not feasible and if you look at that place there were

07:30ditches rajdeep ditches where people can fall now if there was a responsible administration when they

07:38know such a big crowd is going to come they would have covered all those places right first of all they

07:42would have given a bigger space why are political rallies being conducted in roads like this why can't you

07:49give it in a ground where safety can be ensured why wasn't that not taken into consideration by the

07:55government i mean you're talking about fan frenzy let me now let's let's let's talk about it let me

08:01you're trying to put a blame on 17 year olds 16 year olds and 18 year olds i'm sorry rajdeep but you

08:07cannot because these guys are youngsters they have no clue about what they are doing in their life they are

08:14coming there to see their hero in the screen they are the instagram generation they want to take

08:19selfies who should be responsible is the party leadership and the government both of them are

08:26responsible so stop putting blame on each other and start taking responsibility because as people we

08:32are sick and tired of this our lives don't matter to either of you that is what you have shown clearly

08:38okay let me be doing is what let me take that to mr raj gopalan because you've been a former is

08:44officer the point made is that you see political we are you know the political rallies starstruck fans

08:52mr ragnaraj do is is it time now to re-look at the way these political rallies are organized we'll have

08:59an election in tamil nadu in a few months from now what is there any advice you would give is there has

09:05the time come to re-look and review these political arrangements you can't have it in the middle of

09:10a narrow road anymore absolutely rajdeep first of all deepest condolences to the families who have

09:16suffered in this very big you know unpardonable tragedy so to speak but i would just want to say

09:24that you know when we were getting trained in massuri you know there is this three stages of an officer's

09:29career which they used to say garam naram besharam you know on a lighter wheel and that analogy can

09:36be brought to the political class you know there will be few of them who are angry there are few

09:42who will be soft and who will accept the responsibility but majority of them are shameless in the sense you

09:47know you you take the history everyone acts holier than thou when they are in opposition they blame the

09:53government but when they come to the government they find other scapegoats to blame

09:56no there was a mahamagam stampede which happened way back in 1992 when uh madame jayralta was the

10:02chief minister visited and dmk was in opposition that time it blamed lapse on the part of the

10:07government and rightly so and now when in last year there was an air show in chennai where five

10:12people succumbed in a stampede but again the government does not take the responsibility as it

10:18should now in this case as chandramon rightly said you can blame the leadership you can blame the

10:24government but ultimately no one wants to take the accountability and i was hearing a lot of bjp

10:30leaders saying that you know the government should take the blame you cannot blame the tbk leader

10:34well there may be some merit in that argument but will that did they apply the same standard let's say

10:40when there was a khum stampede in up did they blame the yogi government for that when there was

10:45a stampede in the delhi railway station did they blame the central government which is responsible for

10:49both railways and police in delhi for that so i am only trying to say that you know everybody is

10:56but everyone acts holier than thou when it comes to fixing accountability you know when in opposition

11:01blame the government when you come to the government blame opposition or sundry parties i think

11:06uh there has to be a mechanism it's very unfortunate people have to take responsibility definitely just

11:11like buyer beware there must be citizen beware so to speak but at the end of the day we are we are such a

11:17large country even a minuscule population gets frenzied that is enough to fill places in our

11:23country you cannot you cannot discipline 140 crore people so it to put the blame on the people while

11:30there they were right you know actions which were very very uh ugly climbing on trees and other things

11:37which could have also caused or contributed to this but it's impossible to discipline 140 crore people

11:43you so that is out of the equation you can keep appealing to them but the responsibility the

11:48accountability is with the organizers with the government and there is to be a clear-cut mechanism

11:54and i think swift justice swift justice will ensure that i've heard all three of you i've heard all three

12:01of you and i think the clear message is enough of the blame game time to fix accountability i hope

12:08that at least in this case lessons will be learned and maybe we need to have a wider debate get you

12:13all back to look at the way political rallies in this country are increasingly organized i appreciate

12:19though my guest joining me on that talking part let's

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