By Lakshmana Venkat Kuchi
Predictably, politics has peaked over the ghastly and tragic deaths of 40 people, including nine children, in a stampede at a political rally organised by actor turned politician Vijay at Karur in Tamil Nadu.
The battle of narratives has begun in the right earnest with DMK led state government losing no time in blaming the actor and for causing the avoidable deaths. It instituted a one-man judicial probe, which the actor rubbished and demanded a CBI inquiry as only that would reveal the truth – as he alleges in an attack on the government. Vijay blamed the government for its failure to provide security and maintain law and order and also alleged that delay in permissions for the rally also added to the problem.
Velusamypuram in Karur itself has become the epicentre of politics in Tamil Nadu with the whose who of the political spectrum making a beeline to the accident venue.
First off the blocks was Chief Minister MK Stalin who rushed to the spot at midnight and spent some six hours supervising relief, rescue and medical treatment of the victims.
Stalin’s efforts to paint the Hero as the villain are part of the narrative building against Vijay that puts a question mark on his politics.
According to a political analyst who chose to remain anonymous, Vijay seems to have lost the plot. The first mistake Vijay did was to walk away from the rally venue, and not to call on the victims that every politician across the spectrum was doing.
Blame game intensifies
Now, TVK explained it by saying that the government advised him to leave the spot, the government vehemently denies this asserting and also all allegations levelled by the actor.
Now what this does is to ensure that Vijay becomes “dead on arrival in Tamil Nadu politics” if the narrative sticks as per a conspiracy to make him look like a villain, which is part of the propaganda unleashed by sections of local media in the state.
Already, the one-man commission probe, headed by Justice Aruna Jagadeesan visited the spot for an assessment on Sunday, and the outcome of this probe would be crucial and would drive the direction of politics on this issue. Which is why, Vijay and TVK are demanding a CBI probe that would be under the control of the central government. The BJP is also supporting this demand of the actor.
However, in Tamil Nadu, the police and administration counter all the allegations of Vijay and his party Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) that there were lapses in security arrangements and politics in permission for the rally that came in very late. Senior police officials came on television to rubbish all these allegations and asserted how the organisers of the rally had sought permission to bring 10,000 crowd, but it had swollen many times the figure. Besides, the timing of the event too was wrongly conveyed to the police. Vijay came after a delay of six hours during the course of which the crowd swell.
BJP bats for Vijay
Even as DMK and TVK are fighting it out for the mind space of the masses on this issue, the other parties too have jumped in. Equally predictably, the BJP, which is part of a coalition led by AIADMK in the state, has tried to shield Vijay and put the entire blame on the DMK government for the ghastly tragedy.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman and former TN BJP chief K Annamalai squarely blamed the state government and the DMK and sought a CBI probe into the whole matter. This is exactly what actor Vijay and his party have been demanding — A CBI inquiry that would be under the central government led by the BJP.
With elections just few months away, due in May 2026, politics over probe is only natural given that all the sides want to spin this tragedy to their political advantage.
While DMK, for the present is sitting pretty with a fractured opposition guaranteeing a vote split in three or more directions, it worries over the possibility of the opposition coming to an electoral understanding, if not a coalition or an alliance.
ALSO READ: TVK Chief Vijay mourns lives lost in Karur stampede – ‘My eyes and mind are clouded with sorrow’
