When Spectacle Crowds Out Governance

The tragedy that unfolded at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium—where a celebration spiralled into a stampede—was synthetic, foreseeable and entirely self-inflicted.

- GURUCHARAN GOLLERKERI

It was not a case of public enthusiasm gone awry; it was the culmination of a toxic brew of political theatre, administrative apathy and corporate vanity. It laid bare a deeper crisis: a collapse of institutional judgment and a contemptuous disregard for the sanctity of public life.

The government's response—suspending the city police commissioner and other senior officers in haste—only served to expose the rot. Scapegoating of honest officers has become the easiest way to deflect accountability. This time, it crossed an ethical line.

When spectacle replaces governance, tragedy ensues. What exactly was the occasion for the grand felicitation? Royal Challengers Bengaluru—a private IPL franchise that, let us remind ourselves, had only won a trophy—was feted like a conquering army on the grand steps of the Vidhana Soudha, the symbol of Karnataka's democratic and constitutional dignity. With the governor, chief minister, deputy CM, and chief secretary playing hosts, it resembled a swearing-in ceremony, not a sports meet.

Why does the state machinery spring into action to elevate a private commercial venture? The RCB brand is not a public institution; it is a business. Unlike our Ranji Trophy-winning state teams that have brought glory to Karnataka for decades but have never been feted in this manner, RCB's success—modest and long in coming—was transformed into a photo-op, a media spectacle. The motivation was not celebration; it was proximity to celebrity, optics over ethics, and power over prudence.