Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed shock and condolences, stating that the joy of RCB's victory has been erased by the stampede outside Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium.
00:00First reaction from the Karnataka Chief Minister on the stampede saying it is with great shock that we heard the news that several people lost their lives and others were seriously injured in a stampede during the RCB team's victory celebration at the Chinnaswami Stadium.
00:16The pain of this tragedy has even erased the joy of victory. May the soul of the deceased rest in peace and those injured and those undergoing treatment in the hospital recover as soon as possible.
00:27My condolences to the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones.
00:31The team was not allowed to march on the victory parade in anticipation of an unpleasant incident that could occur due to such a stampede and the crowd becoming uncontrollable.
00:40However, the accident occurred due to a stampede and a stampede that occurred due to the crowds of people gathered near the stadium.
00:48I appeal to the public to understand that life is more important than love and affection and to give priority and to give safety first priority.
00:58The words coming in from the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr. Sidhara Mayer.
01:03Let's quickly dip in to the ground report filed by my colleague Sagai Raj and I want to go back to Nikhil after that.
01:10Let's quickly listen in.
01:18I want to go back to Nikhil Nas who was practically witness to the stampede relating such incidents that he did.
01:46But Nikhil, I want to bring you back into the conversation and the question that I want to ask.
01:50We continue to play what the Chief Minister of Karnataka stated, Mr. Sidhara Mayer,
01:55practically suggesting that it's not that the administration and the state government did not factor in the kind of groundswell that could have happened,
02:05especially after last night's celebrations where he said that that is why the reason that the victory parade was cancelled,
02:12the stampede didn't happen inside the stadium, it happened close to the stadium, urging people to put safety first, then love and affection as fans.
02:21I want to bring Nikhil back into this conversation and Nikhil, just give us a bit of perspective because, you know, standing on the outside as a journalist,
02:28one would think that there was a complete disconnect, complete lack of empathy because inside the show continued with the franchise,
02:35the players being felicitated and outside the fans who actually have the maximum skin in the game are paying the ultimate price.
02:47That's right. There was this disconnect, definitely, Preeti, while the ceremony was happening.
02:52And I think the franchise, that is Royal Challengers Bengaluru, were aware of that, which is why the ceremony, which I was told was going to go on for about two hours,
03:03lasted only about 20 minutes. So it took time for the team to get there, that open bus parade that they were planning to have.
03:12That permission was denied because they said at that last moment it probably will not be possible.
03:17Once the team reached there, they came in. It was a very short ceremony with just a couple of players talking and then they took a round with their trophy and the players went back.
03:27As I said, there were a few cultural performances that had been planned. All of that was cancelled and I think the news was still filtering in.
03:34I don't think they had the real number of deaths at that time. At that time it was only being reported that some people have been taken to hospital.
03:41So they were in a catch-22 situation. But I think, you know, speaking to the organisers, they thought that so many people have turned in, they are sitting inside the stadium.
03:49So they must at least, you know, show them the trophy, at least do a trophy lap and just a few words from the main players, that is the captain and Virat Kohli.
03:57And that's what they restricted themselves to. It's probably after that ceremony got over, did the news start filtering in of how many people have actually died.
04:05So that is something that did happen. On the other count, you said, yes, the stampede did not happen inside the stadium.
04:11That's absolutely correct because they did not allow any more people that can be accommodated inside the stadium to come in.
04:18So on that part, they're right. But it happened right outside the stadium. I'll give you an example.
04:23You know, let's take, I went to a FIFA World Cup a couple of years ago in Qatar.
04:27On the final day, you had overwhelming crowds turn up from across the globe to watch that final.
04:33It was played in Qatar, a small place. Metro was overwhelmed.
04:38There were more people that could be accommodated in Metro. People wanted to take the Metro to reach the stadium.
04:43And what I saw there is that there were security personnel at every Metro station,
04:48ensuring that only limited people are allowed to get inside the Metro.
04:51When they come out, there were these points where security personnel would then allow you to form a line and then go towards the stadium.
04:58See, that's how you actually plan for a day where you're going to have a crowdswell.
05:02None of that planning had happened. As I suspect, the planning may have been, okay, this is another match day.
05:08Let's plan for a match day. But as I said, on a match day, you have about only 30,000 people turn up because they're the ones with the ticket.
05:14Today, nobody knew how many people will be allowed.
05:17Everyone who came here thought that he'll be allowed to get inside the stadium.
05:20There may have been about 200,000 people that turned up and you were clearly not ready for that.
05:26Well, thank you, Nikhil, for joining us.
05:28A sad day, a tragic day for cricket and especially with what went inside the stadium and what went outside.
05:35A dystopian view of how we view life so cheap.
