Is Virat Kohli Being Used as a Scapegoat After Chinnaswamy Stadium Tragedy?

Is Virat Kohli Being Used as a Scapegoat: Royal Challengers Bengaluru should be celebrating their maiden IPL title success. Instead, the franchise is under-fire for the tragic scenes at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday which claimed the lives of 11 individuals and left 75 injured.

RCB's IPL 2025 title celebration turned to a tragedy as Bengaluru saw people dying amid the stampede outside of the Chinnaswamy Stadium. On Wednesday (June 4), people came to join the victory parade but some of them never went back home.

To say that Virat Kohli has the most frenzied, loyal fanbase across the cricketing world will be no exaggeration. India’s former captain is an unquestioned crowd-puller whose cricketing persona resonates with millions. He has carried the hopes and prayers and good wishes of large sections and seldom disappointed, producing one epic after another with staggering regularity.

Also Read: UPSC Prelims Result 2025 Soon: Check Civil Services Exam Results at upsc.gov.in

A maiden IPL title, on his 18th attempt with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, ought to have been the icing on the cake. Apart from the World Test Championship trophy which will now never be his, the only glaring absence from his brimful cupboard of silverware was the symbol of supremacy in the IPL. That anomaly was corrected four nights back in Ahmedabad; Kohli himself, as one would expect, was the engine room that drove the RCB charge, finishing the tournament as the third highest run-getter while making those runs with flair and panache and a healthy strike-rate that hadn’t always been his staunchest ally.

During this time, their plans of an open bus parade were cancelled by the Bengaluru Traffic Police due to concerns over congestion on the route. The franchise posted on X that a ceremony will go ahead at the team's home stadium at 5pm local time.

RCB's next stop, with a short halt at a hotel for check-in, was the Vidhan Soudha to meet the Chief Minister where they were felicitated by the state government for the achievement.

"I've stayed loyal to this team, no matter what. I've had moments where I thought otherwise, but I stuck to this team. I stood behind them, they stood behind me. And I always dreamt of winning it with them. This is far more special than winning it with anyone else because my heart is with Bangalore, my soul is with Bangalore," Kohli said after the match.

Also Read: PM Modi Inaugurates Key Development Projects in Jammu & Kashmir’s Reasi to Boost Connectivity and Growth

But a section of fans on social media claim that Kohli's words haven't been executed in his acts. As per some social media posts, Virat Kohli demanded the RCB parade on Thursday and they have tried to portray Kohli as a part of culpability. Although a few reports have claimed the RCB parade was fast-forwarded for some reasons, those are vague and unconfirmed.

There has been criticism of Kohli being in the vanguard of the celebrations inside the stadium even after the stampede outside cruelly snuffed out 11 lives (as subsequent revelations confirmed). But anyone who watched the proceedings would have immediately noticed that he was merely going through the motions, that there was neither exuberance nor palpable shows of delight or orchestrating the crowd, such an inimitable Kohli feature.

Suggestions that the stadium show ought to have been cancelled in its entirety didn’t take into account the fact that the 35,000 people inside were largely unaware of the disaster that had unfolded outside. To have called off the show would most likely have triggered greater unrest and potentially unchecked anger. Because telephone networks were jammed, either by design or otherwise, word of the unspeakable tragedy was not yet common knowledge among those who populated the stands.

Without going overboard, Kohli did what he had to under difficult circumstances. To fire salvos at him for alleged indifference doesn’t do anyone credit. There were many glaring lapses that catalysed the avoidable cataclysm, but to lay the blame at Kohli’s doorstep? Not done.

Also Read: Elon Musk’s Estranged Daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson Reacts to Musk-Trump Feud