RCB title-win celebrations turn into death dance at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru

Celebrations turned into mourning at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday as a stampede left 11 dead and many injured as fans descended in droves to watch the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team with their maiden IPL Trophy. This was chaos confounded, where blame games began even as visuals of children and adults being trampled upon inside the stadium in Bengaluru went viral. Worse, none thought it worthwhile to stop the celebrations, for the sight of human tragedy was killing and bone chilling.

In any accident or calamity, the easiest way out is to blame officials. In this case, it is clear the Karnataka State Government, which has now ordered a judicial probe, cannot wash its hands off the death of innocents. If one blames far too many fans turning up, then how was entry allowed inside the Chinnaswamy Stadium needs to be answered.

When an IPL match takes place at the same venue, cops are monitoring entry into the stadium, where the Karnataka State Cricket Association is also actively involved, along with private agencies. There is no way any fan, official can enter the stadium through any gate without proper frisking. It is clear, from all accounts and visuals seen on television and social media, it had become a free for all. That people were trampled upon reflects very poorly on the crowd management. Obviously, it is the Congress which runs the State Government in Karnataka. If it was known bigwigs were coming, were the cops sleeping at the wheel?

Any excuse offered that lakhs of fans turned up and it was beyond control is the worst excuse one can give. It was a total collapse of the crowd management system where cops and private security agencies should have been working in tandem. To the horror of one and all, that ‘netas’ and the RCB team management held the function even as dead were being shifted to nearby hospitals was callous. Human lives lost saw no respect and RCB winning a club event should have been postponed.

Ordering a judicial/magisterial probe is typical of politicians who like to wash their hands of. Worse, some ‘netas’ were giving interviews where the touch of humanity was absent. To say that the crowd expected was far in excess is a lame excuse. Does not the Bengaluru Police, which handles one of the most crowded cities in India have the task force and intelligence to anticipate what was in store. Once the planned open bus parade was halted, fearing crowd chaos, one thought the celebration function would go on smoothly. It did, despite people wailing as they had been trampled upon.

On social media, it became a full-scale war between those who support the BJP and the Congress.  Yes, Ahmedabad did a great job in crowd managing, where over one lakh turned up at the Narendra Modi Stadium for the IPL final on Tuesday. The capacity of the Chinnaswamy Stadium is just about 1/3^rd. The slugfest between Congress, BJP, and the BCCI and RCB officials also putting out statements with zero sensitivity has confounded the chaos.

If Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and other team members left the arena and went back to hotels, images of children crushed to death an identification being done by ‘chappals’ is a grim reminder how crowd control failed. The RCB heroes have been slammed, the team management has been slammed. All of a sudden, it is as if a big  function was planned without any thought on disaster management. It has left severe scars which cannot heal soon. Loss of lives and some battling for life, this is not what the RCB celebration should have been.

Cricket fans are being blamed for turning up in large numbers by elite folks in Bengaluru who are officials, cops or politicians. How sick can that be. Rest In Peace, dear cricket fans.