Chennai: The tragic Karur rally stampede, which left 40 people dead and nearly 100 injured, has escalated into a major political and legal flashpoint in Tamil Nadu. Actor-turned-politician Vijay and his party, Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), have now taken the matter to the Madras High Court, alleging a criminal conspiracy behind the incident and demanding that the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or to a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Leading TVK’s legal challenge, Arivazhagan, the party’s state coordinator of the legal wing, stated that the tragedy was not a mere accident but a result of a deliberate plot. He claimed that CCTV footage and local testimonies pointed to the involvement of ruling party functionaries in Karur district.
“There was a conspiracy, a criminal conspiracy in the incident at Karur. We have requested the honorable high court to order an independent investigation, not by a state agency,” Arivazhagan told.
He further clarified that TVK would formally present the case before the Madurai bench of the High Court. The lawyer dismissed the Tamil Nadu government’s claim that safety guidelines had been flouted, pointing out that TVK had conducted several large-scale rallies in Madurai, Trichy, Ariyalur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, and Namakkal without any untoward incident.
The ruling DMK has chosen a cautious stance. While rejecting the conspiracy charges, the party avoided political mudslinging. Dr. Syed Hafeezullah, DMK spokesperson, said:
“We don’t want to politicise this. The law will take its course. Those who make such allegations should first introspect how their party leadership behaved.”
At the same time, government sources alleged that overcrowding and mismanagement were the real causes. According to them, the rally venue had a capacity of 10,000, but nearly 27,000 people had gathered. The crowd reportedly waited for hours, as Vijay arrived only around 7 pm, despite people assembling since noon. Officials claimed that the delay was intentional to build up crowd strength.
Arivazhagan strongly refuted the state’s version, stressing that the delay was due to traffic congestion and not deliberate strategy.
“The delay was not on our part. Poor traffic management caused it. We did not violate any police conditions,” he asserted.
He further raised a pointed question: “How is it that our rallies across Tamil Nadu went smoothly, yet this tragedy struck only in Karur?”
As investigations proceed, the Tamil Nadu police have booked several senior TVK leaders, including general secretary N Anand, joint general secretary Nirmal Kumar, and Karur West district secretary VP Mathiyazhagan, under charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, along with other criminal sections.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced a judicial inquiry, to be led by a retired High Court judge, in an attempt to address mounting public anger and political accusations.
The Karur stampede has quickly transformed into more than just a law-and-order issue. It has become a political showdown between a rising force, Vijay’s TVK, and the ruling DMK. While the DMK insists that negligence and overcapacity were to blame, TVK has sharpened its accusations of a premeditated plot, framing the tragedy as an attempt to sabotage its growing political movement.
The next phase of the battle will play out in the Madras High Court, but the wider implications are clear: the tragedy has deepened mistrust between the two parties and placed the spotlight firmly on Vijay’s emergence as a serious political challenger in Tamil Nadu.