"What Drama... They Are On A Firing Spree": BJP MP After Bengaluru Tragedy
Calling the spree of suspensions in the wake of Bengaluru stampede deaths "drama", BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Friday hinted that scapegoating has taken place and accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Deputy DK Shivakumar of evading responsibility.
Eleven people died in a crowd crush outside M Chinnaswamy stadium, as tens of thousands turned up to cheer Royal Challengers Bengaluru's title win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) earlier this week.
"What drama is this? An honest police officer who is actually known for his integrity, as very few of such people remaining in the system these days, he is suspended. RCB is being hounded. And the political secretary of the chief minister, who advised him to not go ahead with the celebrations, is now sacked," Tejasvi Survya, Bengaluru South MP who is in the US as part of the multi-party delegation carrying India's Operation Sindoor message, told NDTV.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayanand, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's political secretary K Govindaraj and head of the information department, Hemant Nimbalkar, are among those who have been suspended since Wednesday, the day of the tragedy.
Earlier today, four people, including the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Marketing Head and DNA Event Management Company staffers, were arrested.
"The two people who are primarily responsible for what happened are the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister and to save their own skin, they are going about on a firing spree, starting from the police commissioner to the RCB head, to his own political secretary," said Mr Surya.
The BJP MP cited the example of Sacha Baron Cohen movie, "The Dictator", to drive home the point.
"If you remember this movie Borat. You know, this The Dictator from Kazakhstan - left, right and center - he keeps firing everybody, you know, to suit his political whim. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar appear to be like the dictator from Borat movie at least today," said Mr Surya.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has criticised the BJP for politicising the stampede. His remarks came after the BJP accused the Congress-led state government of making the police a "scapegoat" in the incident.
Mr Surya said the Chief Minister invited people for the celebration, but accused him of failing to make arrangements.
"So, you invite lakhs of people, you don't make arrangements, you do not take care of protocols to be put in place. You bring your entire extended family to stand on the stage along with these cricketers, take selfies, hog the limelight, snatch the trophy from their hand and hold it high up as though you have actually earned it. And then when all hell breaks loose, you go about on a firing spree to save your skin," said Mr Surya.
"This is a joke that is being played. Look at the way DK Shiv Kumar has posed with the IPL Cup. Honestly, what has he done to achieve it? In the last 18 years, what has CM Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar done to support the local cricketing talent in Karnataka? What have they done to partake undeservingly in this glory of RCB's victory?" he further asked.
The Bengaluru South MP spotlighted that it is not some counter-terrorism operation where you need specific intelligence inputs, hinting at the lack of planning for the event.
"This is not a failure that can be, you know, attributed to lack of intelligence input. It is a failure because of natural stupidity of Shivakumar and Chief Minister. This is not a lack of intelligence inputs from the police commissioner," he said.
"Any person who has a reasonable sense of how things go will anticipate that if the state government, starting with the Chief Minister, gives an open invitation for a grand celebration on the steps of Vidhan Sauda, people are bound to come in lakhs and lakhs of numbers. You don't need an IPS officer or an intelligence chief of the state police to tell you that lakhs of people will turn up, that there is going to be an emotional frenzy. And if you don't realise it, it speaks volumes of your stupidity and you don't have a right to hold public office if this is your intellectual ability of comprehension," he said.
The MP cited the case of the 2024 T20 World Cup victory celebration in Mumbai to draw a contrast between the two events.
"And I have a question to ask. It's not the first time that celebrations of this kind have been arranged in this country. After we won the World Cup, there was a huge parade that was organised in Mumbai. Close to 15-16 lakh people participated in it. Not a single untoward incident took place. Because it was well-managed, well-planned, well-organised," he said.
"This is extremely unfortunate. This was an avoidable but man-made, man-created. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah created the tragedy," he said further.
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