RCB’s IPL victory parade in Bengaluru on Wednesday was supposed to be an event of celebration and cheer, instead it turned into a tragedy with a deadly stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which resulted in the deaths of 11 people. The videos and pictures that have surfaced from the event show lack of management and preparation by the authorities. While many were forthcoming about taking credit for RCB’s IPL victory, the buck is constantly being passed on for the reason behind stampede deaths.
BJP’s accusation
Following the stampede, the BJP has blamed the Congress-led Karnataka government for poor planning and mismanagement during the parade that led to the stampede. The party has called for a judicial inquiry into the incident and demanded resignation of Home Minister G Parameshwara. Opposition leader R Ashok accused the Congress government of rushing into organising the event without proper coordination with the police, simply to take credit for RCB’s win. He claimed the police force had already been stretched thin managing law and order the previous night, and questioned why such a large-scale programme was scheduled the very next day. He suggested that the event should have been held over the weekend to allow for better preparation and coordination, reducing the risk of such a tragedy.
CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar’s Defence
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday apologised for the stampede during celebrations following Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL win. Shivakumar said the state government did not anticipate such an overwhelming turnout. Though the stadium holds around 35,000 people, over 3 lakh fans had gathered, leading to chaos and crowd control failure. He admitted that gates were broken during the rush and called the incident deeply unfortunate. The Deputy CM has also said that they had deployed around 5000 police personnel who found it difficult to manage the overflow of fans.
He also criticised the BJP for politicising the tragedy and assured that the Congress-led government is committed to finding out the facts and preventing such incidents in the future.
Calling it a major tragedy, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered with a 15-day deadline to submit findings. He too said that the government would not politicise the incident and wants full accountability. “BJP is doing politics…We are very sorry for the incident. We will work out a better solution in the future…,” Shivakumar told ANI.
Police mismanagement or plain miscommunication?
Earlier before the parade, the Bengaluru traffic police had tweeted on X that there will be no parade held in the city. After the announcement, Bangalore Central MP PC Mohan had also criticised the state government. In fact, Karnataka Home Minister Parameshwara Rao had also stated that there would be no open-bus victory parade “due to security reasons”. However, just a few hours later, the official RCB X account announced that the parade would take place at 5 pm.
When asked about the situation, traffic police officials said there was still no official confirmation but added, “we have made preparations in case it happens”, reported The Indian Express.
The former Bengaluru Police Commissioner strongly criticised the way the RCB victory celebrations were organised, calling out the lack of proper crowd control and poor disaster preparedness. He held the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister responsible for rushing the event without sufficient planning. According to him, the celebrations took place in a densely populated area during peak hours and continued from late night into the early morning, creating conditions that made the situation unmanageable and ultimately led to the stampede.
BCCI, IPL missing in action
After the stampede, netizens took to social media and questioned why BCCI “did not do anything”. However, IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal gave a defensive response that the BCCI should not be blamed. He said the IPL had officially ended the previous night and the board were unaware about “any such incident occurring”, so it was unfair to hold them responsible.
Dhumal questioned how the BCCI could be held accountable for an incident they had no control over, especially when there were no board representatives managing the crowd or coordinating player entry at the location. “I am not certain if the stampede occurred directly outside the stadium—I have no specific knowledge of that. Have you seen any IPL officials present at the gate, managing the crowd or facilitating the players’ entry?”
After hearing about the incident, Dhumal said he immediately contacted RCB officials. They informed him that they were inside the stadium and unaware of the situation outside. Following that call, the event was called off without delay.
BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia also responded, saying that while there may have been lapses, the board had no role in the incident. He added that this situation would serve as a learning experience and the board would consider setting new guidelines for future victory celebrations. “There has been some lapses in some corner somewhere. Due diligence should have been done so that an incident like this could have been avoided,” Saikia told PTI
Referring to the T20 World Cup victory parade in Mumbai, he explained that the BCCI had worked closely with local officials and made detailed arrangements to ensure crowd safety. He suggested that similar diligence was missing in the Bengaluru event, contributing to the chaos and loss of lives.
Criticism against RCB
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) came under heavy criticism on Wednesday for posting a celebratory video of their team bus being greeted by enthusiastic fans — shortly after a stampede outside Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium left 11 people dead and many others injured.
Commenting on how the celebrations went on despite the tragedy, former Indian cricketer Madan Lal told IANS. that “people will not forget this or Virat Kohli.” He said that it was truly “shocking” and “disheartening” that while the people were dying outside, RCB continued with the celebrations inside the stadium. “The families of the dead should consider suing RCB and the state government for Rs 100 crore for this tragic mishap…BCCI is also shirking responsibility,” he added.
Virat Kohli shared RCB’s official statement regarding the stampede. In the caption, the right-handed batter said he was “absolutely gutted.” RCB’s official statement read, ” We are deeply anguished by the unfortunate incidents that have come to light through media reports regarding public gatherings all over Bengaluru in anticipation of the team’s arrival this afternoon. The safety and well-being of everyone is of utmost importance to us.” Anushka Sharma too shared the official statement with heartbreak emojis.