Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay returned to Karur, the site of the September 2025 stampede that claimed 41 lives, launching a strong attack on the police and the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) during his first visit to the district since the tragedy.
The actor-turned-politician alleged that police officials had misled him on the day of the pre-election rally and said he had relied on their assurances while allowing the event to proceed. Vijay described the stampede as one of the most painful experiences of his life, saying the incident continues to affect him deeply.
"No matter how much success one enjoys... there are such incidents in life. When I entered Karur they (the police) could have stopped me, no?" he asked the gathering. "They had every right to cancel the meeting. But they did not cancel, they guided me in..." he said.
Questioning accountability for the tragedy, Vijay shifted his focus from the police to the then ruling DMK.
"Who is really responsible for this... who orchestrated this?" he asked.
While expressing grief over the deaths, including those of children, the chief minister also responded to criticism over his absence from public view in the immediate period after the stampede. Vijay and his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), faced repeated criticism, especially from the DMK, over their silence following the incident.
"You mocked me... when I was feeling crushed and in pain at home, you said I was 'hiding'," he said, alleging that political opponents and police officials had "conspired" to create circumstances that led to the stampede.
"But did the police deploy enough people? They blamed me shamelessly and MK Stalin did politics in the Assembly," he said, repeating the TVK's allegation that the incident was deliberately engineered to weaken the party's election campaign, which eventually succeeded.
Vijay, who built a vast following during his film career before entering politics, also called on voters to repeatedly reject the DMK, accusing the party of large-scale corruption. He said his government had already begun taking steps to address those issues.
The chief minister's Karur visit also came amid legal disputes surrounding the Tamil Nadu government's decision to provide government employment to the families of the 41 victims. The DMK has argued that the move could potentially influence witnesses involved in the ongoing investigation.
The opposition party had approached the Supreme Court last week, but its challenge was dismissed. "What exactly are you trying to say? You want the court to dictate what a chief minister should do?" the court asked. "Chief Minister Vijay is not an accused."
The DMK later withdrew its petition from the Supreme Court but moved before the Supreme Court-appointed supervisory committee and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the stampede, seeking measures to ensure witness statements remained protected ahead of Vijay's visit.
Earlier on Friday, roughly an hour before the chief minister reached Karur, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court declined to halt the government's decision, describing the move to provide jobs to victims' families as a "policy decision" and allowing appointment letters to be issued.
However, the court clarified that the appointments would remain temporary and would be subject to the final outcome of the case.
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