Cinematic charisma may be necessary to deepen the footprints of a fledgling political party. But irresponsible conduct on the part of a charismatic leader can be a recipe for disaster. The stampede at a campaign by the actor-turned-politician, Vijay, for his party, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, at Karur, Tamil Nadu, which led to the death of over 40 people, including children, is a case in point. Shockingly, the basic prerequisites of crowd management seem to have been ignored by the organisers and the administration. There was a massive delay in Mr Vijay’s appearance at the venue, causing the crowd to swell. Significantly, the estimates of the attendance also varied: the TVK put out a number of 10,000 people, while police say nearly 30,000 had turned up on the occasion. This, quite naturally, impeded the rescue and the treatment of the injured. Mr Vijay’s conduct on the occasion, his subsequent admission of being in pain notwithstanding, was appalling: he left Karur for his residence soon after despite the scale of the tragedy. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government, mindful of Mr Vijay’s popularity among the masses, has not named him in the first information report. This will not do. Accountability needs to be demanded from all those who were involved — directly or indirectly — with the mishap. Whether administrative callousness — the TVK’s request for a bigger venue to accommodate the throng was apparently denied — is responsible for the deaths must also be examined.

The deeper problem, though, lies in an impoverished collective commitment towards civic ethos and associated responsibilities. Stampedes and resultant deaths are quite common in India, be they in the sphere of politics, sport or religion. Karur followed a similar incident in Bengaluru after the city’s cricketing franchise won the Indian Premier League for the first time; this year’s Kumbh Mela had witnessed such deaths too. The relevant data are revealing. According to the National Crime Records Bureau figures, over 4,000 stampedes have taken place in the last three decades — the NCRB began collating data on such events from 1996 only — with more than 3,000 lives lost between 2000-2022 as per official records. The Tamil Nadu government has announced the framing of stipulations for public events. Legal provisions to address such events exist already. What is required is the strict implementation of such stipulations to inculcate a sense of organised — civilised — conduct not only among the people but also their leaders.