Why I weep for Bengaluru: Deadly stampede overshadows Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s win in the Indian Premier League

Why, Bengaluru? Why? A stampede. Deaths. For what? It doesn’t make any sense. How did such a horrific tragedy unfold after a night of exhilarating cricket — a night that brought such joy to the city and Karnataka? Eleven deaths cast a dark shadow over Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s superb Indian Premier League victory. What a pity!

RCB, Bengaluru, and Karnataka waited 18 long years for this title — as long as the IPL has existed. After three near-misses, the trophy finally came home to the land of legends like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, E.A.S. Prasanna, B. Chandrasekhar, and Gundappa Vishwanath. It’s a moment to savour. A time to celebrate the heroes.

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Celebrations worry me. They often descend into chaos and tragedy. Remember Paris Saint-Germain’s historic Champions League win? Their first ever. France erupted in celebration — but it ended with clashes, arson, and two deaths. A terrible shame.

Celebrate, by all means. Especially when triumph comes after years of disappointment and heartbreak. That joy is well-earned. But why must it lead to devastation and deaths? In France, bus shelters were smashed and cars set ablaze. That’s madness.

Cricket, in India, is what football is to much of the world. A religion. It ignites passion and fervour so intense that reason flies out the window. That’s exactly what happened in Bengaluru.

Why did it happen? Poor crowd management. Authorities didn’t expect around 300,000 people to turn up to welcome the RCB stars. The police were unprepared, overwhelmed by the sheer number that surged through the streets around M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Lessons from Bengaluru

It’s easy, in hindsight, to assign blame. Political parties were quick to turn it into a blame game. That helps no one. What’s needed is efforts to ensure this never happens again.

Celebrations shouldn’t turn into wakes. India have won two ODI World Cups and two T20 World Cups. We’ve seen massive celebrations and ticker-tape parades — all without incident.

It’s clear that mistakes were made in Bengaluru. Eleven families are now engulfed in grief. Every RCB victory in the future may reopen their wounds. The memory of loved ones lost in the euphoria will return again and again. Bengaluru didn’t sign up for that.

Let this be a lesson. Safety must be paramount, even in moments of ecstatic celebration. Because, life is precious.