Actor turned politician Vijay could hardly have anticipated how his pledge to emulate predecessors like M.G. Ramachandran and Vijayakant, by “taking up the whip of people’s issues”, would so soon be confronted with human tragedy blamed on his fledgling party’s poor organisational acumen.
The death toll from Saturday night’s stampede and suffocation at the Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) rally in the handloom town of Karur, 385km from Chennai, had risen to 40 by Sunday evening. The dead included 10 children and 17 women.
The tragedy has faced the TVK with an existential crisis less than a year after its launch last October, although the party on Sunday petitioned Madras High Court alleging a “conspiracy” behind the stampede.
On the ground, grieving eyewitnesses expressed dismay at the party’s “inability to protect” its own cadres and supporters.
The message from the stampede seems to be that fan clubs cannot be transformed into political parties overnight, even in a state that has seen five chief ministers from the film world. Nor can road shows be a substitute for grassroots political work.
The 51-year-old Vijay’s high-decibel rhetoric in street-smart Tamil had seemed to attract the youth, prompting Sivaganga’s Congress MP, Karti Chidambaram, to suggest the actor could influence next year’s Assembly poll results. But no one expected the TVK’s organisational vulnerability to be exposed so soon.
The party’s “social media handle had said the actor would reach Karur around noon (for the rally), but when he reached the town, it was 7.40pm”, Tamil Nadu director-general of police Venkatraman told reporters.
A large crowd — more than double the estimated size — had begun gathering by 11am, braving the scorching sun, for a glimpse of the film star. Among them were women with children in their arms. Many had little food or water for eight hours.
As Vijay arrived, the crowd tried to surge forward. But sections of it were forced to retreat to make way for the actor’s large bus, on which he has been conducting his “Tamil Nadu darshan” to meet voters.
Footage from local TV channels showed utter chaos, with the police carrying out a baton charge to keep the crowd at bay.
Caught in the crush, people were screaming. Many tried to escape by climbing over anything they could find, including roadside thatched roofs that crumbled under their weight.
A state electricity board official in Karur denied allegations of a power outage.
“Only the lights powered by a generator arranged bythe party near the meeting spot went off under the impact of the overcrowding,” the official said.
As Vijay climbed atop his bus to address the crowd, cries were heard about some people having fainted.
The actor and his aides were seen throwing water bottles into the crowd. An ambulance was called. A policeman was seen on TV preparing to rush an injured baby to hospital.
As Vijay began speaking, the stampede broke out. The venue was littered with sandals and torn clothes.
The actor ended his speech abruptly and left for Tiruchy, en route to Chennai.
Late in the night, Vijay put out a social media post saying his “heart was shattered and I am languishing in pain”.
“What’s the use of running a party if Vijay cannot even visit the injured in hospital?” a woman wailed near the Karur government hospital.
Only last week at Nagapattinam, Vijay had thundered that his “entry into politics” was not sudden, and that the TVK had evolved from his NGO Vijay Narpani Mandram that had been serving people for over two decades.
Tamil Nadu is no stranger to film personalities taking up politics successfully. Its five chief ministers from the celluloid world include the scriptwriters C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi of the DMK; acting star MGR who founded the AIADMK; his wife and actress Janaki Ramachandran who held the top job briefly; and actress Jayalalithaa who inherited MGR’s political legacy.
DMDK founder Vijayakant, another actor turned politician, found less electoral success.
Unlike Vijay, they had all done the hard yards, spending years in both filmdom and the political field.
“The TVK leader’s bid to fast-track this process with one-liners on road shows may make sensational headlines, but it’s more showmanship than politics,” a political analyst said.
Premalatha Vijayakant, who now heads the DMDK following her husband’s death, said: “To avert such tragedies in future, Vijay should hold properly planned rallies where specific responsibilities are given to party functionaries, and not have such one-man road shows.”
Vijay had declared that “the BJP is our ideological adversary and the DMK our political foe”. But he has been targeting mostly the DMK, reserving occasional jabs for the BJP.
The TVK is still in search of partners to form a “third front”. The AIADMK, led by E.K. Palaniswami, has renewed its ties with the BJP.
Some Opposition leaders have blamed the police for the stampede. DGP Venkatraman on Sunday countered that “adequate police deployment and protection was provided for the Karur event”.
He said the TVK was given permission for the rally on the condition that its cadre would cooperate fully and take care of the crowd.
Chief minister Stalin arrived in Karur past midnight. He has ordered a judicial inquiry and announced ₹10 lakh each for the families of the dead and ₹1 lakh each for the injured.