Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay on Monday ferried families of victims from the Karur stampede (September 27), the place 41 individuals died and over 60 had been injured, almost 400 km to a personal resort in Tamil Nadu’s Mahabalipuram. This motion of Vijay sparked a row over the exhausting spherical journey of 800 kilometres that critics and opposition leaders slammed as insensitive and avoidable.

On Monday, 5 buses carried family members of 37 deceased individuals from Karur to the temple city of Mahabalipuram, 400 kilometres away and simply 50 kilometres south of the state capital. The TVK had booked round 50 rooms on the upscale resort to host the closed-door interplay with the sufferer’s households, which lasted almost eight hours. The conferences on Monday passed off precisely one month after the tragic incident in western Tamil Nadu’s Karur.

TVK Cadres had been explicitly barred from the venue to keep up privateness. Vijay met each family individually in periods, with some stretching over three hours. The actor-politician apologised for “dragging all of them the way in which” to Mahabalipuram, explaining he couldn’t receive permission from the authorities to go to Karur itself, reported information company PTI. He assured them he would quickly journey to their hometown as soon as clearances had been granted.

Through the one-on-one conferences with the victims’ households, Vijay sought forgiveness for the stampede, acknowledging no compensation may exchange their family members. He pledged complete help: financial support, full training sponsorship for kids, self-employment alternatives, and housing help.

“I’ll deal with your households as my very own,” he informed them. Lunch was served, and by late night, the households boarded the identical buses for his or her 400-kilometre journey again to Katur.

The logistics, nonetheless, fuelled widespread condemnation.

Opposition leaders accused Vijay of “performative compassion”, forcing bereaved family members, together with many aged, frail, or nonetheless recovering from trauma, right into a gruelling 12-hour highway journey every means.

“If he can organise a convoy to a luxurious resort, why could not he go to Karur?” a DMK spokesperson questioned, highlighting the perceived hypocrisy, reported The Indian Categorical.

TVK sources defended the association, insisting the secluded resort provided a secure, distraction-free area for intimate conversations away from potential protests or media frenzy in Karur.

The stampede had erupted throughout a large TVK rally addressed by Vijay on September 27, when chaotic crowds led to the fatal crush.

Critics on social media pointed on the irony: bureaucratic hurdles allegedly blocked Vijay’s go to to the victims’ hometown, but his social gathering seamlessly executed a large-scale translocation with out hindrance.

Lt Col N Thiagarajan, an Indian Military veteran, wrote on X, “Tragedy changed into a publicity occasion! As an alternative of visiting the properties of those that misplaced their lives within the Karur stampede, Vijay and his TVK group referred to as the grieving households to a lodge to supply condolences. This isn’t compassion, it is conceitedness within the garb of sympathy. Shameful that Tamil media is celebrating such insensitivity.”

TVK clarified the assembly’s sole function was to convey private condolences and element rehabilitation plans. Vijay had suspended all political outreach instantly after the tragedy however signalled its resumption put up this interplay.

Because the actor-turned-politician builds his political profile forward of the upcoming Tamil Nadu Meeting polls, the Mahabalipuram assembly has as an alternative raised questions about leadership, sensitivity and responsibility within the wake of the Karur catastrophe.

For a lot of, the 400-km detour was seen as Vijay’s disconnect with floor actuality.

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