A horrific tragedy unfolded in Bengaluru today evening, during an event that should have been a celebration.
Historic victory for RCB
Yesterday, the city was buzzing with joy as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the Indian Premier League cricket championship, defeating Punjab Kings by six runs in the final in Ahmedabad.
It was the first time that RCB won the cup since IPL was launched 18 years ago. Thrice the team was in the final but had lost.
Such was the euphoria yesterday that within moments, an announcement was made that there would be a victory parade through the city today. The procession was set to start from Vidhana Soudha and end at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Victory parades are common
Parades by winners of sports events are nothing new. They happen around the world. But what happened in Bengaluru this evening was tragically unprecedented.
The stadium, which can hold around 35,000 people, saw crowds of around 200,000 on the roads leading to it. It was like everyone wanted to be part of the celebrations and tried to make their way in.
In the chaos, 11 people lost their lives and scores were injured. Luckily, all the wounded are now out of danger.
Stampedes aren’t new
People not only form crowds but they try to push and shove to move forward. There have been so many incidents of stampede in our country in which scores have lost their lives.
Today evening, fans should have restrained themselves. It was common sense that there would be huge crowds for anything to do with cricket in India.
On seeing the surging masses, they should have exercised discretion and gone back home.
Lessons to be learnt
There are a number of lessons to be learned by everyone involved — the fans, the cricket board, and the government.
The RCB and the government should not have announced the victory celebration in such haste, with less than 24 hours’ notice.
Even if the idea was RCB’s (their enthusiasm is understandable), the government and the police should not have given permission without putting proper crowd control measures in place.
Cricketers didn't deserve this heartbreak
The government, the police, and the RCB fans owe an apology to the cricketers who worked so hard to lift the cup, and also to the families of those who lost their lives, and the wounded.
The crickerters' achievement has now been overshadowed by this preventable disaster.
Let’s hope at least now we will learn the importance of planning, restraint, and responsibility.
How very sad. Tragedies like these happen far too often at celebrations. Crowds just get out of control sometimes. Some of that is a failure of imagination by those planning such events.
ReplyDeleteThough sports-triggered passions can spiral out of control, the enormity of the tragedy here was quite shocking. There was clearly a goof-up. Primarily, there were no fool-proof arrangements. It has now blown up into a big issue here with the city police chief being suspended, and a few officials of the team's management being arrested on the basis of a case filed. Apparently, the winning team's management had put out a social media post announcing the celebration in the stadium for which passes will be given away free. Everybody seemed to have gotten carried away by the victory of the city's cricket team.
DeleteSuch a sad end to a celebration, but unfortunately it happens far too often throughout the world - crowds seem to lose their minds when a mass event gets out of hand and innocent people get caught up in the crush.
ReplyDeleteHi Leanne - Mob frenzy can really get out of control. Passions run wild and unsavoury incidents do happen. But the scale of this disaster and the way it happened was truly shocking. An inquiry is on and the process is on to take punitive action against those responsibility.
DeleteThis tragedy made the TV news here. Sadly, it is not the first time that events of this nature have occurred following sports events and I suspect that it will not be the last. I am not quite sure what it is about sports that generates this kind of mass hysteria culminating in tragedy.
ReplyDeleteHi David, you are right. Sports spurs a lot of passion among its fans and that can really spin out of control. The whole thing is snowballing into a big controversy here. Of course, there is an inquiry now. But what is transpiring is that the winning team management put out a social media post about the celebration in the stadium and that passes for it would be given away for free. Apparently, the police had objected to it citing logistic constraints and didn't give the go-ahead. Also, the political leadership was also keen on holding the event in such a hurry.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteThe lemming mentality of crowds can never fully be planned for, I have come to the conclusion. Must be, since this sort of thing just keeps on happening... so sad. YAM xx
Hi Yamini - It was such common sense that people in lakhs are going to stream into the city centre. No preparation was made. In fact there was no time at all. Everything was done in such hurry, which wasn't needed.
DeleteIt is very sad that 11 innocent lives were lost. All I have learned is from the newspapers. May be true or exaggerated. They should have arranged the celebrations after 2 days. I also read that RCB and the players continue to celebrate (drink) even after the stampede. Of course, they cancelled the parade. If this is true, how can RCB and the players continue to celebrate when people were dying. (Here is where you may not like what I am going to write.) Most of the players have not even passed high school. So they do not know how to behave and celebrate. Just as an example, in USA, if you want to become a professional football or basketball player, you should have gone to college for 4 years. (Some people have now challenged this in court.)
ReplyDeleteYou are right that there was no need to have the celebration in such a hurry. That was the root cause of the problem.
DeleteApparently RCB management put out a post on social media that there would be a celebration in the stadium and passes would be given away for free. It's said that the political leadership overruled objections from the police. CM's political secretary and the state's intelligence head have been removed. An inquiry is also on.
Regarding the celebrations going on, yes, it was wrong. Their explanation was that they didn't know what was happening outside the stadium. That's not convincing. It was all over TV and it was very clear that there was a stampede-like situation developing well before the event was to start.
RCB bears a lot of responsibility for organising this event without having any idea of how to manage the lakhs who would land up there.
Regarding educational qualification, I don't know if that has anything to do with the way someone behaves. There are so many examples of less educated people behaving far better than educated ones!
Remember my post yesterday about taking time out and being away from people? Partly cause of stuff like this. I pretty much will do things with a group of people I know and not in crowds like this. So saddened that this is how I world is and maybe there was a lesson learned, lets hope so.
ReplyDeleteHi Pam - Makes sense. Large and passion-driven crowds of people could be dangerous.
DeleteThis is tragic. In their excitement and euphoria, people forget about safety and regard for others. What a terribly sad ending to a wonderful series.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what happened. Now it has blown up into a big controversy here. The police hadn't given the permission and the political establishment also wasn't fully aware of the preparations for the celebrations. Basically, it was a huge, tragic mess-up.
DeleteOne thing that I never comprehend is why Indians are so crazy about cricket. I find it quite a lousy game. Football and basketball and hockey... are all so very energetic and passionate.
ReplyDeleteHi Tomi - A lot of people like you don't like cricket. That holds good for any sport, or anything for that matter. But when an event has to be conducted, it has to be done in a proper manner. It was a major goof-up by so many people. Very tragic.
DeleteThe buck passing that is going on! I always say that we don't value lives enough in India.
ReplyDeleteIt's heartbreaking. Sometimes I block out such stories because I'm too empathic. A friend's loss has kept me in an anxious state neither he nor his deceased lady would want. ~sigh~ We can only focus on living, I guess. Best wishes.
ReplyDelete