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In the wake of the heartbreaking stampede that occurred outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 victory celebrations, BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla issued a measured but emotional appeal for unity, accountability, and prompt action.
Unfortunate incident during RCB’s IPL 2025 event in Bengaluru
The tragic incident, one that turned a historic celebration into a national calamity, reportedly claimed at least 11 lives and left several more injured as uncontrolled crowds surged outside the stadium gates. The incident unfolded just a day after RCB clinched their first-ever IPL title, defeating Punjab Kings by six runs in a nail-biting final in Ahmedabad. As the team flew back to Bengaluru in a chartered flight to celebrate with their fans, the mood across the city was jubilant. The day began with an official felicitation ceremony at Vidhana Soudha, where Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar honoured the players with Mysore Peta and garlands of cardamom—a tribute rooted in local tradition.
However, by late afternoon, scenes around Chinnaswamy Stadium began to spiral out of control. With free entry passes distributed and social media brimming with buzz, an unmanageable crowd of tens of thousands began to converge outside the stadium long before the RCB team arrived. Despite authorities cancelling an earlier planned open-top bus parade to prevent such a disaster, a stampede still erupted outside the stadium gates, a scenario that no one fully anticipated.
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Rajeev Shukla reacts to the unfortunate stampede
Speaking to ANI, Shukla acknowledged the proactive steps taken by the Karnataka government to avert such chaos, including the cancellation of the roadshow. However, he admitted that the scale and density of the crowd outside the stadium had not been foreseen.
“The government did stop the roadshow in order to avoid stampede or any such situation. But it was not anticipated that a stampede would happen outside the stadium. Everybody should work together on the damage control,” Shukla stated.
Rajeev’s remarks struck a tone of urgency and collective responsibility, calling on all stakeholders, BCCI, the state government, RCB officials, and law enforcement agencies, to come together to assess what went wrong and to ensure such tragedies are never repeated. Rajeev Shukla sought to depoliticize the situation in his follow-up comments, stating:
“This can happen in any state and the ruling party should not be blamed for it. If this happens in a BJP-ruled state, we should not blame them. The crowd was huge. I spoke to the franchise, and they also did not think that such a massive crowd would gather. This incident happened suddenly,” Shukla concluded.
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