TVK government’s jobs for Karur stampede victims’ families draw criticism from allies, Opposition

The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government’s decision to provide government jobs to the family members of those killed in the Karur stampede has drawn criticism from its supporting and Opposition parties.Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay is scheduled to hand over appointment orders to 32 family members of the 41 people who died in the stampede during a TVK rally in Karur in September last year.Besides meeting the victims’ families, he will also lay the foundation stone for Evervan Kothari Footwear Private Limited’s non-leather footwear manufacturing unit at Manavasi near Krishnarayapuram. The Rs 1,700 crore project is expected to create around 13,500 jobs.The jobs appointments to the stampede victim's families will be made during Vijay’s visit to Karur on Friday, July 10. However, the government’s decision to offer jobs has triggered opposition from its own supporting parties.Communist Party of India [CPI(M)] state secretary P Shanmugam questioned the timing of the decision, pointing out that the investigation into the stampede is still underway and the matter remains before the court. In a social media post, he said the move could weaken the legal process and raise questions over whether the government was using its authority to provide government employment to the families of those who died at a political rally.“The government may facilitate employment in private organisations, but offering government jobs is an entirely different matter,” he said.Along Shanmugam, Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary M Veerapandian, said the state government should first formulate a comprehensive policy allocating government employment for the families of people who die in tragedies under different circumstances.They said, until such guidelines are in place, the appointments for the Karur stampede victim's family should be kept on hold.Senior CPI leader K Subbarayan also opposed the move, saying that providing government jobs to the families of those who died in a political party meeting would set a bad precedent.“History will record it as a misuse of power, and it will pressure future governments to follow the same practice,” he said.Subbarayan also argued that compensation for deaths occurring during political events should be the responsibility of the political party concerned and not the government.The move also drew criticism from Puthiya Thamizhagam founder K Krishnaswamy, who urged the Chief Minister to withdraw the decision.Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nainar Nagendran welcomed the government’s decision to provide jobs to the victims’ families, while questioning why Vijay had not remained in Karur to console them immediately after the tragedy.Following the Karur stampede, the then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh to each bereaved family, while Vijay provided an additional Rs 20 lakh to each family and met them in October last year near Chennai.