NEW DELHI: The death of a 37-year-old man at a rally of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay in Salem on Friday triggered a sharp political exchanges, with rival parties attacking the outfit over crowd safety.The man, identified as Suraj, a native of Maharashtra who was residing in Salem, fainted after complaining of chest pain while waiting at the rally venue and was rushed to a private hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, news agency PTI reported. Preliminary enquiries indicated that Suraj was a heart patient and had earlier undergone angioplasty.Police said the incident occurred even before Vijay arrived for the district functionaries’ meeting. The death drew swift reactions from political rivals. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam spokesperson Kovai Sathyan took a swipe at the TVK in a post on X, remarking that anyone attending a TVK rally in future would “have to carry their own coffin along.”The Bharatiya Janata Party also joined the criticism, with the youth wing leader Vinoj P Selvam alleging that the incident highlighted a lack of concern for cadre safety. “It would not have mattered if it happened inadvertently for the first time. But the mistake is recurring,” he said in a post on X.The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam echoed similar concerns. DMK spokesperson A Saravanan questioned how many more lives would be lost before the assembly elections and claimed that arrangements such as shelter and drinking water were inadequate at the rally.Later, a scuffle broke also out between journalists and cadres of the TVK. Journalists alleged that the cadres tried to attack them while covering the incident.A source in the TVK, however, told PTI that the party had already appealed to its cadres and members of the public who were unwell to refrain from attending the meeting, adding that the death was unfortunate and not linked to any lapse in arrangements.Earlier, at a TVK event since the September 2025 stampede in Karur, in which 41 people were killed.
