41 people died in a stampede at Thamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) Chief Thalapathy Vijay's rally. Hundreds were injured. Actor-politician Thalapathy Vijay spoke with the families of the victims 10 days after that tragic incident in Karur, Tamil Nadu. He has started reaching out to the families of those who lost their lives in the stampede at his rally.
According to party sources of the Tamil superstar, Vijay spoke via video call. He assured each bereaved family that he stands with them.
TVK sources claim that Vijay assured the families that he will soon meet them personally and is currently unable to do so due to some problems.
The superstar spoke with each family for more than 20 minutes. However, Vijay's team requested not to take any pictures or record during this video call.
On Sunday, September 27, there was a public rally of Thamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) in Karur, Tamil Nadu. A huge crowd gathered just to see superstar Vijay. Instead of arriving at 2:30 PM, Vijay reached there around evening. By then, a huge crowd had gathered there. It was learned that TVK had received permission for a rally with only 10,000 people. But more than 30,000 people assembled there. Later, incidents like stampede occurred in the commotion.
The stampede incident at Vijay's rally has created a huge uproar in Tamil Nadu's political circles ahead of the upcoming elections. A case has also been filed in the Madras High Court. Following the court's new directive in that case, there has been a radical change in the rules for political meetings and assemblies.
The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has stated that any road shows or other public gatherings, political rallies on state or national highways should be temporarily stopped, until the state government issues Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) regarding programs like rallies or road shows.
On October 10, the Supreme Court also has a hearing on a case related to this incident.
Investigators claim that the trouble started when Vijay arrived six hours late on the day of the incident. During this long time, more people reached there. Many had become impatient after waiting for so long under the open sky in the heat. This added to the problem. As soon as Vijay started his speech, the crowd tried to move towards him breaking the barricades, resulting in total chaos.
