India, Aug. 22 -- Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday defended his government over the June 4 stampede outside Bengaluru's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which claimed 11 lives, saying the tragedy was triggered by "mass hysteria" after Royal Challengers Bengaluru's historic IPL victory. Replying to opposition attacks in the Assembly, he pointed out that at least 20 stampedes had taken place in states ruled by the BJP.

The Chief Minister read out a list of past tragedies to underline his argument, starting with the 2008 Naina Devi temple stampede in Himachal Pradesh during the tenure of Prem Singh Dhumal, and the same year's Jodhpur incident in which 250 people died. He also recalled the 2013 Ratangarh stampede, the 2021 Haridwar tra...