BENGALURU: Struggling to come to terms with the tragedy that has struck them, the families of the victims of the stampede outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium have one question: “Who gave permission for the entire victory celebrations that claimed our loved ones?”Ashwini UL, mother of one of the stampede victims, Divyanshi, asked: “My first question to the govt is who wanted this function? What was the need for arranging the felicitation function in front of Vidhana Soudha or announcing the roadshow and organising a victory celebration function in the stadium on June 4 when the entire city celebrated the victory overnight till the early hours? Why didn’t the authorities make arrangements before inviting fans?”Not just Ashwini, the families of the 10 others who died in the stampede are searching for similar answers. Though chief minister Siddaramaiah has blamed police and maintained that nothing untoward happened during the felicitation attended by him in front of Vidhana Soudha, the families aren’t convinced. “How can he say this? Isn’t the stadium near Vidhana Soudha and didn’t he know that fans will throng the stadium, barely 800 metres from Vidhana Soudha? How is it that no VIP or their children were caught in the stampede?” asked the family members that TOI spoke with. Ashwini said: “I was witness to the celebration throughout the night as I rode with my daughter up to MG Road. Despite lakhs of people hitting the streets on that night, there was no casualty on the roads. But it was only the next day, as my daughter was getting ready to leave for school, she saw the news about RCB’s roadshow with players being carried in an open bus. I took her to the event as I didn’t want to disappoint her. As we waited on the footpath at gate no. 12 along with many others, there was an announcement directing people to gate no. 15 for free entry. Everybody rushed at once, resulting in the stampede.”The resident of Kattigenahalli, near Yelahanka, also criticised the govt’s move to stop the buck with the suspension of police officers. “If police had warned against organising celebrations hurriedly, why didn’t anyone listen to them? Ministers too have children; they should understand the pain we’re going through,” she said, adding: “No matter how much compensation they give, it won’t bring back my daughter.“‘Cash won’t bring him back’Shravan KT, 20, a dental student at Dr BR Ambedkar College, was one of 11 who died. He wanted to join the armed forces, but his parents wanted him to become a doctor. Shravan and his friends managed to get tickets for attending the function at the stadium. Now the govt announced Rs 25 lakh compensation. “Even if they give Rs 25 crore, my brother will not come back,” his sibling Shashidhar KT said.“Proper planning and management should have been in place. Not giving time to take security measures and organise the event well is the biggest mistake of the govt. They are blaming police, KSCA, and the IPL franchise. The function should’ve been held over the weekend,” Shashidhar said.“I watched the statements from many political leaders comparing the incident to what happened at Prayagraj, the Tirupati incident, Pahalgam, and others. But they aren’t ready to accept their mistake. While those incidents happened despite security measures, here in Bengaluru, there were hardly any measures put in place. It looks as if the govt wanted to take advantage of the celebrations,” he said.Pavitra, mother of Prajwal, 22, an engineer from Yelahanka New Town who died in the incident, said, “We aren’t worried about money (compensation). But who was behind the function? I don’t know how true it is that police opposed the celebration. How is it that everyone knew about celebrations and why didn’t the police act in the nick of time?”Bhoomik’s father, Lakshman BT, Saturday told the media that his son was “murdered” by the govt. “He went to the stadium only because of the celebration, which was held in a hurry. All 11 families’ curse will impact the ministers.” Lakshman, unable to come to terms with his son’s death, was found lying on his son’s grave in his family farmland in Hassan district, crying in grief. He said, “I have earned crores for my son. But now he is no more. The govt is solely responsible for his death.”
