By Apoorva Jayachandran

Copyright indiatoday

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday visited Karur, Tamil Nadu, to meet families affected by the stampede during TVK chief Vijay’s rally on Saturday that claimed 41 lives. She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally called her and Union Minister of State L Murugan, asking them to visit the site, meet the bereaved families, and inquire about those injured..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}“Several people, men and women, were injured across their bodies from the stampede. We also met a few families of the deceased. My stomach was churning as I heard their stories. My heart is full of sorrow. I didn’t even know how to respond,” Sitharaman said.“The Karur incident is shocking. The injured were taken to the hospital. The Prime Minister called me and Dr Murugan and advised us to meet all the families who lost their loved ones and check on the health of the injured,” she told reporters.Accompanied by Murugan, she inspected the stampede site along with the district collector and met several family members of the victims. “I couldn’t even talk or console the family members. Most of them are from poor families. I could hear their pain,” she said, adding that she conveyed the Prime Minister’s message of condolences to the bereaved and the injured.Sitharaman also highlighted the importance of standard operating procedures for public gatherings: “No time is a bad time for setting SOPs for public matters, particularly where there will be a huge assembly of people. Probably, we are rather too late. Not just in one state, but across the country, we should have a better way of managing public gatherings.”Sitharaman said she would brief the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Amit Shah about her visit after returning to Delhi. She noted that both leaders had already expressed their condolences through social media.- EndsPublished By: Deepthi Published On: Sep 29, 2025