On Tuesday, DMK leader A. Raja castigated TVK chief Vijay on the basis that escaping the consequences of the Karur stampede is an indication of a guilty conscience. The comments are days after the tragic crowd crush during a rally by Vijay in Karur, Tamil Nadu, that killed 41 people and injured many others.
In an interview with one of the news agencies, Raja criticised the reaction of the actor-turned-politician to the incident by asking, “It is the responsibility of a leader to be on the ground when 41 lives were lost. Being a cinema actor, a popular one, I may comprehend crowd issues. But is it your obligation to deploy second-line leaders or lieutenants to help the affected people and families? Nobody was on the ground, he added. The very fact that you are escaping the government means that you are indeed acknowledging your errors. It shows a guilty conscience. Now, because of you, it is, and that is what your conscience reports to you.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Vijay issued a video statement and stated that he was saddened by the tragedy. He added in the statement that he has never been in such a painful situation in his life. “It breaks my heart, just that.” The actor said that he wished that those who were hurt in the stampede could recover so fast and that he was sorry for the families of the victims.
It was on September 27, at the rally given by Vijay in Karur, that the stampede took place, with huge crowds. The event has attracted a lot of outrage, and it now casts doubt on crowd management and safety at political events. The absence of proper arrangements and accountability has been criticised by DMK leaders as well as the opposition parties.
Vijay expresses his grief about the loss of life in the open, but DMK and other political voices still state in the context of the tragedy that the leadership duties should be enhanced, and the political leaders should be active in crises.
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