On September 27, 2025, a pall of gloom descended Karur as it turned into a graveyard with 39 lives — including nine children and seventeen women — getting crushed to death due to a stampede at actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) rally. More than 80 were injured.
Poor planning by the local administration under the DMK government, combined with TVK’s reckless mismanagement, left tens of thousands of people standing for hours under the scorching sun with no proper crowd control. The situation turned catastrophic when the crowd was forced to make way for Vijay’s vehicle, triggering a surge that trapped people in a deadly crush. Panic spread as people fainted, gasped for air, and collapsed — ultimately resulting in a devastating stampede that could have been entirely prevented.
And yet, in the aftermath, both the DMK government and Joseph Vijay’s party are busy trading barbs, as if this was a political blame game rather than a preventable human tragedy.
The truth is uncomfortable but unavoidable: both TVK and DMK have blood on their hands.
TVK’s Reckless Gamble With Lives
As organizers, TVK displayed sheer incompetence — or worse, criminal negligence. According to Tamil Nadu Director General of Police, permission was sought for 10,000 people but around 30,000 people showed up. The site was inadequate, but TVK refused alternative venues. No water, no barricades, no medical facilities, no clear evacuation routes — nothing that even remotely resembled responsible event management.
Adding to the recklessness, Vijay chose to arrive nearly seven hours late. Crowds that had gathered since morning were left stranded in the sweltering heat, surging forward in desperation when word spread of his approach. Was this delay, as some allege, a deliberate stunt to capture dramatic drone shots of “massive crowds”? If so, TVK gambled with lives for optics — and lost.
The result: chaos, suffocation, and a deadly stampede triggered by a wave of human bodies desperate to catch a glimpse of their leader.
Vijay and his party functionaries should have acted responsibly instead of conveniently invoking the ‘cooperation’ of the very state government they endlessly criticize. If the district administration denied every venue they asked for, Vijay could have simply rescheduled his program to another day. And given his personal wealth and resources, he could have easily engaged his own private security forces with the police and district authorities to ensure proper arrangements — if he had truly cared about safety more than optics.
The Madras High Court, while hearing a petition by TVK regarding denied permissions, made a pointed remark: “You, as the leader, should control the crowd,” Justice Sathish Kumar said. Vijay clearly failed in this fundamental responsibility, allowing his frenzied, fanatical mob to surge uncontrollably, turning what should have been a political rally into a deadly stampede.
DMK’s Administrative Failure Or Deliberate Sabotage?
But TVK’s culpability does not absolve the ruling DMK. If TVK was reckless, the DMK govt was incompetent. Currently, the Tamil Nadu police force doesn’t even have a regular Director General of Police due to political reasons. There’s only an acting-DGP.
The police and district administration approved a venue inadequate for the turnout, imposed no safeguards, and deployed insufficient security. No real-time crowd monitoring, no emergency medical teams, no preparedness.
TVK proposed four urban spots (e.g., Bus Stand roundabout), but police rejected them due to population density and traffic risks. Permission was granted for Velusamypuram (an open area previously used for an AIADMK rally), but the site proved inadequate for the turnout. The location where the rally happened cannot even hold a crowd of 5000. On what basis was the location allotted by the local administration? Why were enough security personnel not deployed when we know that there will be uncontrollable crowd coming in not just from Karur but neighbouring districts as well?
While ADGP Davidson Devasirvatham says thats 500 people were deployed, the real ground-level police officers were fewer than 100 in number according to BJP leader Annamalai.
When the surge happened, ambulances were trapped in the same crowd they were supposed to save. Victims died en route to hospitals, some gasping for air while the state machinery remained paralyzed. The power cuts may have been unavoidable, thanks to frenzied TVK fanatics mindlessly scaling electric poles just to glimpse their matinee idol. But what should have been a safety measure only ended up deepening the chaos, plunging the venue into darkness and confusion.
This was not the first warning sign either. Vijay’s Trichy rally earlier in September had exposed glaring lapses, with the Madras High Court itself cautioning the state to tighten guidelines for political gatherings. The DMK government clearly ignored those red flags.
And here lies the darker question: was this just negligence — or something more sinister? Did the DMK deliberately allow such an ill-managed setup to proceed, knowing full well it could backfire on Vijay? A tragedy of this scale not only tarnishes his reputation but also plants seeds of fear among his supporters, potentially shrinking turnout at future rallies. Was this disaster merely incompetence, or was it a calculated attempt to psychologically weaken a rising rival?
And let’s not forget — this is Karur, the political fiefdom of Senthil Balaji. Everyone in Tamil Nadu knows what this man is capable of, given his long track record of intimidation, strong-arm tactics, and murky dealings. In his backyard, nothing happens without his shadow looming large. Which raises an even darker suspicion: was the administrative paralysis in Karur mere incompetence, or was it the deliberate handiwork of a seasoned operator ensuring that Vijay’s show ended in disaster?
Beyond Politics: Negligence Codified In Blood
The law is unambiguous. Bussy N. Anand, CTR Nirmal Kumar, TVK’s Karur District Secretary and others have been charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, acts of rash/negligent conduct endangering human life and disobedience to an order issued by a public servant. They have also been charged under the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act.
But should the buck stop there? On December 4, 2024, a stampede at the Pushpa 2 premiere at Sandhya Theatre, Hyderabad, claimed the life of Revathi and left her son Sri Tej injured, triggered by overcrowding during Allu Arjun’s visit. The actor faced arrest and later secured bail. If in Telangana, a star whose actions contributed to a single death was held legally accountable, why is Joseph Vijay allowed to walk away scot-free after a tragedy that claimed 39 lives?
What about the DMK-run police and administration that rubber-stamped permissions, failed to enforce restrictions, and essentially outsourced public safety to amateurs blinded by stardom?
Tamil People Should Come Out Of Cinema Intoxication
Karur was not just a failure of TVK’s planning or the DMK government’s negligence — it was a catastrophe born of arrogance, mismanagement, and mindless devotion. TVK and Vijay prioritized optics over lives, arriving hours late and ignoring basic safety measures. The DMK administration approved inadequate venues, deployed minimal security, and plunged the city into chaos, raising the darker question: was this incompetence, or deliberate sabotage? And yet, the crowd itself bears responsibility. It is utterly reckless to bring toddlers into a throng of tens of thousands, to climb poles and buildings without authorization, risking life for a fleeting glimpse of a star. What is the point? Don’t fans have basic sense? Is Vijay so important that it’s worth your life? This frenzied, zombie-like devotion must end. Tamil people must break free from this cinema star intoxication.
Karur demands justice, and history will not forgive those who chose politics over life.
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