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Journalism of Courage
Vijay rally stampede: At Velusamypuram, where 40 people died in a stampede at actor-politician Vijay’s rally on Saturday night, the ground still tells a story, strewn with children’s sandals, broken grills, torn party scarves, and sunshades snapped under the weight of those who climbed over them.
Most of those who turned up were not political workers, but people who wanted to catch a glimpse of their superstar. Subhash, a bus-body worker from Karur who stood behind Vijay’s campaign van during Saturday’s event, said exhaustion had set in hours before the actor arrived.
“After Vijay’s vehicle reached the spot, the pressure doubled. The crowd was swelling. When his vehicle rolled in, making space for it in an already crowded street made matters worse,” he said.
By this point, the conditions had started having an effect on people’s health. “That is when a child had a seizure, and one woman collapsed. Ambulances were called, but they were not able to reach the spot, so those who collapsed were moved to nearby streets. Finally, when the first ambulance came, there were many more cases to attend to. Then the ambulance itself became a reason for more congestion as there was no space for it to move even as Vijay continued his speech,” Subhash said.
For Sounder, a local tailor, the horror was personal. His elder brother was among those who collapsed. “He was moved to a nearby street where women brought water. Many more people were rushing to get a sip of water in that intense heat and rush,” he said.
Anupama, a homemaker who lives near the rally location, said her home became an involuntary shelter. “People entered the house, breaking the grilled door; we were struggling to breathe even inside. People occupied our terraces and even sunshades. A part of it broke. We gave them water, some collapsed women were brought in, and we gave them sugar and water to revive them. Some were in bad shape,” she said. According to her, problems began before Vijay even arrived: “Power went off before his vehicle rolled into this exact spot. When ambulances reached later, more crises happened.”
About 15 people sat on a tree branch outside her house. The branch later collapsed, killing at least five and worsening the panic. On Sunday morning, the area was cordoned off by police. “Insensitive mob” was how Anupama described the scene.
Among the dead was Brinda, a 22-year-old textile mill worker from Aravakurichi. Her husband, Sudan, has been bedridden for two months after an accident. She left her two-year-old daughter with relatives to attend the rally with friends. “She wasn’t even a fan club member; she just wanted to see him,” said her relative, Mangala. The family identified her body only at 6 am on Sunday, after a government helpline sent them a photo. Outside the Karur Medical College mortuary, her toddler sipped mango juice along with grief-stricken women from the family.
Others, like Gokulasri and Akash — young fans in their early 20s, who were set to get married next month — also went to the rally and never returned. “We told them not to go, but they didn’t listen,” said Gokulasri’s mother.
Local residents said police presence at Vijay’s event was far lighter than at Edappadi K Palaniswami’s AIADMK rally at the same location — Velusamypuram in Tamil Nadu’s Karur — just two days earlier, which drew almost a similar crowd but passed without incident. “Police should have been deployed in bigger numbers and the permitted venue was wrong,” said a resident.
Velusamypuram’s narrow road with a new, open drainage line became a trap on Saturday evening as people fell inside.
Davidson Devasirvatham, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), disputed claims of inadequate deployment. “There were three ADSPs, four DSPs, 58 sub-inspectors, besides the IG Central Zone camped here,” he said. He said the rally in Namakkal earlier in the day had 270 police, while Trichy’s meeting last week had 650. Karur had 500 for an estimated 20,000 people, even though they demanded permission for a rally of 10,000 — “A ratio of one officer to 20 persons, better than the standard rate of one to 40,” he said. “Even if there were 1,000 policemen, handling a tough crowd like this would have been challenging,” he added.
He also said that two ambulances were on standby and 10 more were called as soon as reports of a stampede emerged. He denied allegations of stone-pelting. Davidson also said Vijay’s team refused to listen to police officers.
“At least 50 metres before the speaking point, police told them to stop their vehicles… But organisers insisted they go further inside to the exact spot they decided to halt the vehicle. After reaching that spot, the leader did not come out of the vehicle for about 10 minutes, which made the crowd restless again,” he said.
By 6 pm, Vijay’s convoy reached a flyover less than a kilometre from the spot, but it took another hour to reach the grounds. The vehicle had to carve its way through the already jammed street. If the beginning of the stampede situation was when the crowd were forced to make way for his vehicle, this led to people fainting in the crush.
A combination of poor planning and insufficient amenities worsened the situation. Police had denied TVK permission to hold the rally at four busy junctions, including the Bus Stand roundabout and the Lighthouse area, instead granting Velusamypuram. TVK organisers had announced that Vijay would arrive at noon, and people began assembling from 9 am. By 2 pm, there were fewer than 4,000. But by 4 pm, after word spread that he was on his way from Namakkal, the crowd surged, and at least 5,000 more people had followed him from Namakkal.
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