The Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s celebration of their maiden IPL title – ending an 18-year-long wait – turned into chaos on Wednesday, after a stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium left four people dead and several injured. Calling it a “shocking” incident, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia blamed lapses in security arrangements and extended condolences to the families of the deceased. Speaking to Hindustan Times, the top BCCI official said that he is disgraced by the incident.
Thousands gathered outside the Chinnaswamy stadium to catch a glimpse of their favourite RCB stars, who beat the Punjab Kings on Tuesday in Ahmedabad to win the IPL title. But the police struggled to take control of the situation, forced to resort to mild force as well.
“I am just not shocked but disgraced by this incident. This event of tragedy that has happened in the victory celebrations in Bengaluru today. It was such a wonderful and colourful closing of the IPL. It’s really shocking for us. We are really frustrated to hear this kind of news, and we are extremely sorry. We extend our heartfelt condolences to all the members of the bereaved families, and we also pray that whoever is injured will recover at the earliest,” the secretary said.
The festive mood outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium quickly turned into agony as several ardent RCB supporters lost their lives because of the stampede. Many others had to be hospitalised as well. The RCB event continued irrespective, although Saikia insisted it is unfair to comment on why the celebrations went ahead.
“I do not know. What is the ground reality? There may be a lot of other reasons. We don’t know what the further outcome could have been. It will not be proper for me to pass any comment. My only concern is that there must have been some serious lapses on the part of the organisers and the district authorities in allowing this kind of event where so many people gathered without following the due protocols of safety, security, and law and order,” he said.
“Whenever BCCI or any cricket association organises this kind of events – like yesterday, also in Ahmedabad, where 1.3 lakh fans assembled in that stadium – you always take precautions, and there is proper planning with the district authorities and police. So that when there is a gathering of a huge number of people, certain protocols are to be maintained to ensure that no situation like this happens. For example, take last year’s World Cup-winning celebration in Mumbai after the T20 World Cup was won by India in the West Indies. There was proper planning by the BCCI. Despite so many people, not a single unfortunate incident happened because everything was done in a very systematic and disciplined manner,” he added.
Saikia asserted that the proper protocols were not followed, and hence, a situation like this transpired.
“The proper protocol was not maintained in Karnataka today in Bengaluru. It was such a short time. I do not know, it is not possible to plan this kind of event at such short notice. So maybe somebody has made some mistake at some point in time. As a result, this unfortunate event or tragedy has taken place as a result of which so many cricket lovers, so many cricket fans have lost their lives, and so many others have gotten injured in the incident,” he said.
‘Need to do some soul searching’
The BCCI secretary also stated that this incident in Bengaluru will now prompt the board to brainstorm with franchises on how celebrations need to be looked at once the IPL is over.
“We hope good sense will prevail, and in future, whoever organises such events will follow the necessary protocols after having proper due diligence. The authorities are responsible for such celebrations. After the IPL is over, BCCI directly has no role to play,” he said.
“That is why we are a little bit more shocked. Maybe we’ll have to think about the future because every year, there will be celebrations by the winning team in some cities. Maybe we’ll have to do some soul-searching and some brainstorming sessions to set some norms on how things can be celebrated so that in future this kind of tragedy is not repeated,” Saikia pointed out.
