Stampede deaths: BJP puts caste spin on police officers' suspensions
Bengaluru: Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, opposition leader in the council, Tuesday alleged that the decision to suspend top police officers, including Bengaluru city police commissioner, for the stampede at Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL victory celebrations at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, was linked to the caste of the officers.
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He was speaking during a dharna by
at Freedom Park in Bengaluru to protests the govt's handling of the affair. Eleven people died in the stampede and scores others were injured.
"The poor police commissioner is an ST, and the ACP is from an SC community," said Narayanaswamy. "If the govt had suspended the head of intelligence (Hemant) Nimbalkar, then CM
would have ended up as a former CM."
Several Karnataka BJP functionaries spoke during the protest, which was originally scheduled for June 13 but was postponed after the Ahmedabad airplane crash.
The agenda was to lay siege to the CM's residence, but police took protesters into preventive custody, herding them into buses from Freedom Park.
BY Vijayendra, BJP state president, urged Siddaramaiah to take moral responsibility for the deaths during the stampede and resign. "This event was held to save Siddaramaiah's falling popularity," he said.
Leader of the opposition R Ashoka raised slogans against the govt and called it "murderous".
He questioned the need for the event even when the police had advised against it.
"If there were no deaths during the event, the govt would have taken all the credit. But now, you say it wasn't your event," he said and reiterated that the event went on only after the approval of the CM, deputy CM, and chief secretary.
Meanwhile, countering calls for his resignation, Siddaramaiah asked how many BJP functionaries had resigned for similar incidents in the past and dared the saffron party to release a list.
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Justifying the govt's action in the wake of the stampede, Siddaramaiah said his govt owned responsibility and suspended senior police officers, including the city commissioner and his own political secretary. "We also commissioned a judicial investigation headed by retired high court judge Justice Micheal D'Cunha," he said.
Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Pahalgam terror attack, Siddaramaiah pointed out that the PM did not call for a special session of Parliament to debate the incident in which 26 tourists were killed.
"We are accountable to seven crore people of Karnataka and penalised officers for dereliction of duty," Siddaramaiah said. "It is BJP's nature to politicise deaths and tragedies, but we will never get bogged down with their political ploy."
Chiding principal opposition party BJP for indulging in politics over dead bodies, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar said he was confident Congress will return to form the govt in 2028 as well.
"BJP and JD(S) will continue to indulge in politics over dead bodies, but you [media] be with us," he said. Asked whether he intends to take oath in 2028, if the Congress party wins the elections, Shivakumar sidestepped the question and said: "A Congress govt will take oath."
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