New Delhi [India], June 5 : BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla launched a scathing attack on the Karnataka Congress government following a stampede at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, describing it as a "state-sponsored man-made tragedy."
"This is the height of shamelessness. It is arrogance after apathy, delusion and denial after disaster. What should have been a celebration turned into a catastrophe. It is a state-sponsored man-made tragedy and disaster for which Congress is entirely responsible," Poonawalla told ANI on Thursday.
Poonawalla criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's response, saying that his comments downplayed the incident and blamed other states. "Look at the response of the Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah). He says many incidents take place. Kumbh took place. He's blaming other states and saying, I have never raised these issues. What does he mean?" Poonawalla questioned.
The BJP spokesperson also targeted Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, saying that he was trying to shift the blame to the crowds instead of taking responsibility. "The deputy CM (DK Shivakumar) blames the crowds but does not take responsibility... Instead of taking accountability and responsibility, Congress is again trying to blame the people. They have put publicity above people.. They continued the show after lives were being lost...," Poonawalla alleged.
Poonawalla demanded that the Congress government take accountability for the tragedy and that the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister should immediately resign. "Congress should take accountability, and the CM and Deputy CM should immediately resign," he said.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (secular) for "playing politics with dead bodies, as he addressed the media for the first time after the Bengaluru stampede.
Addressing the reporters, Shivakumar broke down while expressing his grief, and reaffirmed his support to the families who have been hurt by the loss of their loved ones.
While expressing grief over the stampede, Shivakumar added, "I don't want to play dirty politics. BJP and JDS always play politics on dead bodies; that is their political agenda. But they should see what they have done, we are deeply hurt, the image of Karnataka, Bangalore, we take it, we are not blaming others, though it has happened very unexpectedly."
"We must learn an administrative lesson, let the opposition do politics on dead bodies. I will list how many dead bodies they have done politics on. But it hurts to see the little children. I have seen their pain," he added.
Further hitting out at JDS leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, he said, "Kumaraswamy has been playing politics on the dead bodies, that is his profession. I will not do politics like him about what happened during his administration. I am worried about children, I saw small children. I saw ten people. No family can digest it. I came to know about the matter from the media. Even the RCB management could not go there."
Eleven people died and more than 30 were injured in a stampede outside Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy stadium as a huge crowd of nearly 3 lakh people had gathered to witness the victory celebration of Royal Challengers Bengaluru for winning the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Deputy CM said that the state government was shocked and reiterated that it was an unexpected event which had happened."We never expected such a crowd after 18 years. Things have happened, now let us be part of the grief. It is our family members, we all are shocked, CM, Home Minister, entire government," he told reporters here.
Shivakumar also claimed that the IPL team had earlier only announced to the media that they were coming to the city, and that the state government had "no option" but to allow the event."We did not expect such an incident to happen in our state. RCB had told the media that they were coming (to Bengaluru). We didn't have an option; what happened here happened in our home. Everyone has their pain in their own home. I cannot say that one or two people are wrong here. We must also learn a lesson from this," he said.
He also claimed that as soon as the news of a stampede was known, he told the organisers and officials to stop the event, however, officials were not allowed to make any announcement."We were not even allowed to make any announcements there, I did not know who was going there. Then the commissioner came and told us he had done one or two things. I immediately told him to stop the program. No speech, nothing. This is not a time to blame anyone. It does not matter what politicians say, it is only their opinion," he said.
Earlier, Union Minister Kumaraswamy held Shivakumar responsible for the stampede, alleging that the incident was caused by the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister's "impatience, immaturity, and irresponsibility."The Union Minister demanded that "the person responsible for this tragedy must be immediately sacked from the cabinet."
Following the stampede, the Karnataka High Court has taken cognisance of the RCB Victory Parade stampede at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium. It is set to hear a PIL into the matter later today.