June 06, 2025
By Manjunath K. Shresthi
Come the summer months of April and May, the evenings to late nights of these two months are packed for the Indian Premier League (IPL) season. The loyalty of the teams is through the names of the country’s top cities and iconic brands. They’re named as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB); Mumbai Indians (MI); Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Kolkata Knight Riders and the famous cities of the country. New teams and franchisees have also joined and it has morphed into a giant spectacle for cricket lovers and fans. Brand loyalties and top city names become famous during IPL season. The 18 th edition finals was played @ Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Since IPL began, tech city Bengaluru remained elusive of the IPL title, but RCB defeated Punjab Kings. There are teams which have won many times, and India’s cricket icon Virat Kohli was associated with RCB since long, and made it famous. But the title remained elusive and hence pursuing and winning it was an emotional moment for ‘King Kohli’.
All great victories come at a cost. RCB had its legions of followers across the state and the country. ‘Ee sala cup namde’ in Kannada language meaning “the cup is ours this time”. And the RCB earned it and deserved their moment of glory. The cricket frenzy was seen across the entire southern state of Karnataka from villages, towns, taluks, district places and the state capital. If cricket runs in the blood, then it was clearly evident amongst the RCB fans. The fan following and loyalty to RCB is unheard off. It’s become a brand and they all swear by it. Post RCB’s victory, there were parades across entire state of Karnataka. They began since the team won and it continued to spill over the next day and the couple of days later. There are also cases of fans dying by massive heart attacks post the victory celebrations.
In Bengaluru, a victory parade started off from Vidhan Soudha to M. Chinnaswamy stadium. The fans were eagerly waiting for their team, as they could see their favourite cricketers. The stadium has a capacity of 35000, but the numbers outside were in exponential limits (couple of lakhs is being spoken). The fans who could not make it into the stadium were eagerly waiting outside. The gates outside were packed to the limit and the numbers kept swelling by. Amidst back and forth there was stampede and tragedy struck the post victory celebrations of RCB. A total of 11 people lost their lives. The age group of the fans who lost their precious lives is below 40 years of age, and the youngest being a 14-year-old child. There are those who have been injured and their situation is yet to be known.
Analysis of Tragedy: did the people associated with planning the event, not anticipate huge crowds? Was there a communication gap amongst the different agencies? Was the planning inadequate and why are the top police officials removed from their jobs? Could better crowd management saved lives ? Who’s going to take the blame: the organisers, politicians or the cops on duty? Answers may be hard to come by. But heads have started rolling and the government is overworking to find out the reasons behind the avoidable tragedy.
The public too must realise that it’s a game and their over enthusiasm and hysterical behaviour should not endanger their lives or anyone else. Fairs, market place with huge footfalls, temples,public spaces, railway stations, are the places where tragedy can strike without a warning. The authorities must learn their lesson, and see that such tragedies are never repeated again.
