Videos of a man crying over the grave of his young son who died in the Bengaluru stampede have sparked renewed sympathy for the lives lost in the tragedy and anger against the state government.
Videos of Lakshman, the father of 19-year-old Bhumik who died along with 10 others in the stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, have gone viral on social media. Bhumik was an engineering student at BIT College in Basavanagudi. Most of the 11 people who died in the stampede were in their 20s, while four were teenagers.
In the videos, the man can be seen lying over his son’s grave in Kuppagodu village, Hassan district, on Saturday, June 7, weeping unconsolably. The family lives in Bengaluru.
“My son is sleeping here. All this (gesturing towards the land) is for him and I have made him sleep here. I bought this land for him. No other mother or father should have to go through this. I’ve had to make my son sleep here. I’m going to lie down here with my son. I’m sleeping here with my son,” he said, before being taken away by relatives.
In an interview, Lakshman said that his son had gone to college as usual on the day of the stampede. He later called his mother to inform that he will be going to the stadium for RCB’s felicitation event with his friends. “I have been thinking of filing a complaint against the government. If we get the support of the families of other deceased victims, we can do this. We will file a complaint saying this Congress government, this Siddaramaiah government has murdered our children,” Lakshman told ANI.
“I don’t need any compensation from the government, just bring my son back to me…this negligence from the government has ruined my home,” Lakshman said.
Visuals of Lakshman which were shared widely on social media have once again directed anger at the state government for not taking any responsibility and instead, shifting the blame on the police. The state government suspended IPS officer B Dayananda, making it the first instance of a serving Bengaluru Police Commissioner being suspended.
Since then, the state government has also sacked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s political secretary K Govindaraj, transferred the state intelligence chief Hemanth Nimbalkar, and ordered the arrests of event organisers.
These measures have not gone down well with the public given the enthusiasm with which everyone including Chief Minister Siddarmaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar participated in the celebrations held hours after RCB won the Indian Premier League for the first time in 18 years.