‘It was state-orchestrated’: BJP MP Tejasvi Surya slams govt over Bengaluru stampede

WASHINGTON: Bangalore South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has strongly criticised the state government over the stampede in which 11 people were killed near the Chinnaswamy stadium during RCB’s IPL win celebration in Bengaluru.

Surya alleged that the Chief Minister’s decision to invite fans to join the celebration without adequate security arrangements was “state-orchestrated” and led to the tragedy.

Surya said, “The stampede was completely avoidable. It was state-orchestrated… Yesterday, the CM put out a tweet giving out an open invitation to everyone, knowing fully well, the frenzy of the crowd of fans. He gives this open invitation without making adequate security, safety, and crowd management arrangements.”

#WATCH | Washington, DC | On the Bengaluru stampede, BJP MP from Bengaluru South, Tejasvi Surya says, “… The stampede was completely avoidable. It was state-orchestrated… Yesterday, the CM put out a tweet giving out an open invitation to everyone, knowing fully well, the… pic.twitter.com/d7B4h6d2mW

— ANI (@ANI) June 5, 2025

Surya criticised the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister for trying to “hog the undeserving limelight” and making the event a “family function” of Congress leaders. He demanded that the state government take responsibility for the lives lost and provide monetary compensation to the families of the victims.

Surya questioned the purpose of a magisterial inquiry announced by the state government, saying it would take 15 days to submit a report. “Keep this 15-day report yourself in your house. Who cares? Will this 15-day magisterial report help these families?” he asked.

“You cannot blame RCB, Virat Kohli, or even the fans. If there is anyone responsible, it is the CM and the DCM who wanted to hog undeserving limelight and made this an entire family function of the Congress leaders… On stage, we see Congress leaders, their children, their daughter-in-law, son-in-law, everybody trying to take selfies with these people and hog the limelight. At whose cost? Lives that have been lost cannot be brought back”.

“Now, the state government must own up and monetarily compensate the families of those who lost their lives. Some young breadwinners have died in this stampede… The state government must take care of all the expenses of the injured. The government must also compensate generously to all the families who have suffered losses..”, Surya demanded.

Surya also requested that the RCB management compensate the stampede victims as the team’s moral responsibility towards its fans.

“No other team enjoys the kind of loyalty and fanfare as the RCB. Bengalurians treat RCB and RCB team members as a part of our own family, extended family. We have been there with you in terms of joy, in terms of, in times of celebration. Now it is time for RCB to also be in terms of distress and challenge with the fans and their families. RCB and RCB’s superstar cricketers have made hundreds of crores from the love of fans over the last so many years. I think it is the moral responsibility of RCB to also generously compensate the victims of this stampede. And this is my request to the management of the RCB…” Surya said.

On Wednesday, Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy accused Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar of being responsible for the stampede, alleging that the incident was caused by the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister’s “impatience, immaturity, and irresponsibility.”

Addressing a late-night press conference at his official residence in New Delhi, the Union Minister demanded that “the person responsible for this tragedy must be immediately sacked from the cabinet.”

He criticised the Congress government in Karnataka as being run by “arrogant fools” and said, “We have a Chief Minister who is completely inactive. He has no control over the Deputy CM. As for the State Home Minister, there’s no point in discussing it. He merely obeys commands.”

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar offered an apology. Shivakumar said, “This should not have happened and we never expected such a big crowd…The stadium’s capacity is 35,000, but more than 3 lakh people were there…Gates (of the stadium) have been broken…We apologise for this incident…We want to know the facts and give a clear message…”

He accused the BJP of politicising the incident. “BJP is doing politics…We are very sorry for the incident. We will work out a better solution in the future…”The Congress leader also said that all government events scheduled for tomorrow have been postponed after the tragedy.”…Tomorrow, except the cabinet meeting, all programmes have been postponed. No celebrations, including the World Environment Day…”

Shivakumar complimented the state police force for controlling the massive influx of people during the RCB celebrations.”Again, I’m telling on record. I should compliment my Police officers…morning also, they wanted to have a procession, they wanted to bring a vehicle from the airport itself…Police guided us not to…that’s why I rushed to the airport and ensured nothing went wrong…in Vidhana Soudha, also we were very cautious…,” DK Shivakumar said.

Meanwhile, IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal expressed his condolences to families who lost their members in the stampede and said BCCI had no information that such an event was being planned.”This is a very unfortunate incident… We had no information that such an event was being planned… If such events are planned in the future, then proper arrangements should be made… Those who were sitting inside the stadium had no information about the incident,” Arun Dhumal said.

The incident occurred near the iconic M Chinnaswamy Stadium when thousands of fans gathered to catch a glimpse of their favourite players ahead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL victory celebrations.

The Karnataka government announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased killed in the stampede. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah addressed a press conference and said the government would also provide free treatment to the injured.

“A major tragedy occurred during the victory celebrations. It happened near the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The government has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the deceased. The government will provide free treatment to the injured,” the CM said.

Expressing deep sorrow over the incident, CM Siddaramaiah said, “Eleven died and 33 were injured in the stampede. This tragedy should not have happened. The government expresses deep sorrow over this incident.”The Karnataka CM further asserted that he has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter.”I don’t want to defend this incident. Our government will not do politics on this. I have ordered a magisterial inquiry and given 15 days’ time. People even broke the gates of the stadium. There was a stampede. No one expected such a huge crowd. The stadium has a capacity of only 35,000 people, but 2-3 lakh people came,” CM Siddaramaiah said.

RCB finally ended an 18-year wait for the coveted IPL trophy, defeating Punjab Kings by six wickets in the finals of IPL 2025, held on Tuesday at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. (ANI)