Lalli, a 32-year-old homemaker, is consumed by guilt. She is unable to shake off the feeling that she failed to save her nephew, Thuruvishnu, from being crushed to death at a political rally last week.

On the evening of September 27, 2025, a Saturday, Lalli carried the infant in her arms and walked to the venue of the rally in Karur, a textile hub in Tamil Nadu. Her husband and their two children went as well. They were excited to hear the popular actor, Vijay, address the crowd as president of his fledgling political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). The rally was part of the actor-turned-politician’s State-wide tour. Tamil Nadu is scheduled to have Assembly elections in 2026.

At the venue, the crowd kept swelling despite the heat. Vijay arrived several hours late, and there was allegedly little security in place. Many people fainted, while others tried to get closer to Vijay’s vehicle. Chaos erupted and the resulting crowd crush left 41 people dead, including 10 babies, and injured more than 100 people. Most of the adult victims were aged 18-30.

“I thought I could save him. This guilt will stay with me until I die,” says Lalli, who is sitting with family members in Thuruvishnu’s house. The cries of the family echo through the house in Vadivel Nagar in Velusamypuram, barely 50 metres from where Vijay addressed the crowd.

Lalli’s brother Vimal, a 25-year-old daily-wage worker, and his wife Matheswari, 22, had Thuruvishnu two years after getting married. On the morning after the stampede, the couple performed the last rites of their 22 month-old son. He was the youngest to die in the stampede.

A deadly cocktail

For the people of Velusamypuram, where houses and textile shops can be found on both sides of the roads, the rally has left deep scars. Many residents insist that the disaster was neither accidental nor unforeseeable, and that it was the outcome of poor planning and official neglect.

Crowds had begun to gather at the spot of the rally, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on September 27, from the previous night.