A file photo of footwear outside the M. Chinnaswamy stadium following a stampede
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday washed his hands off any responsibility for the stampede near M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on June 4 that claimed 11 lives, and said police inaction was largely responsible for the incident that occurred during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) victory celebrations.
In a reply to a debate on the stampede in the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the stampede was caused by “mass hysteria.” The RCB has the highest fan base in the country and “collusion of the police with RCB” and failure of the police to handle the situation led to the stampede.
Opposition walks out
When the Chief Minister refused to tender an apology for the incident, the entire Opposition staged a walkout from the House.
Earlier, Mr. Siddaramaiah listed over a dozen stampedes in BJP-ruled States from 2008 to 2025, and said 39 people died during the Kumbh Mela stampede at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) in January 2025. “Did U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath resign after the stampede?” he asked.
‘I am in pain’
On the stampede at the stadium, the Chief Minister said, “In my 42 years of public life, such an incident has not taken place. I had never seen 11 young persons aged between 13 and 29 dying in a stampede. I am in pain. I expressed my sorrow the same day.”
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that fans viewed RCB’s victory as that of Bengaluru and Karnataka’s. Even though there were only two players from Karnataka, he said “fans perceived the team’s victory as Karnataka’s victory and pride, which is mass hysteria.”
Stampedes have occurred both in India and abroad at stadiums and at religious sites, he pointed out.
The Chief Minister said at 5.30 p.m. on June 4, he came to know about the stampede when he was eating dosa at Janardhana Hotel in the city along with his grandson. Soon he called the Police Commissioner and Home Minister G. Parameshwara and rushed to the hospital. “I was disturbed by seeing the bodies,” he said.
Drawing parallels between the stampede and the 36 deaths during the pandemic owing to shortage of oxygen at a hospital in Chamarajanagar, the Chief Minister asked, “Why did Suresh Kumar (BJP) not call the then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai government as an abettor?”
During the debate, Mr. Kumar had called the Congress government as “abettor” to 11 deaths.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said the government had rendered justice by ordering a magisterial, a judicial, and a CID probe into the incident. It had also suspended five senior police officers, he said.
Govt. negligence
Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok insisted that “negligence” on the part of Mr. Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, and Dr. Parameshwara caused the stampede. Despite the police request for more time to hold the event, the government was in a hurry to get publicity and conducted events at the Vidhana Soudha and the stadium, he said.
The DPAR Secretary appealed to the public to attend victory celebrations at the stadium. Only 194 police were on duty and the government failed to draw sufficient police for the event despite availability of 10,000 police personnel in the city, Mr. Ashok said.
If the police declined permission for the event at the stadium, why did Mr. Shivakumar attend the “illegal function”, the BJP leader asked. Mr. Shivakumar responded by stating that he attended the stadium event following a request from the police.
The Opposition, dissatisfied with the reply of the Chief Minister, staged a walkout and raised slogans.
Published – August 22, 2025 06:15 pm IST
