Kochi: Slamming Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for not visiting the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) where a stampede killed three students and another person on Saturday, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Sunday said the former has failed the families of the victims.

The BJP minister, in what could be the first political criticism of the government over the tragedy, rapped the chief minister for continuing with his public outreach programme Nava Kerala Sadas even after the stampede incident. “He sent two of his ministers to Kalamassery and continued with his yatra. Had he come to the accident spot, the seriousness of the situation would have increased manifold. But he did not bother to do so. He should have at least cared for the tears of the student community,” Muraleedharan told the media after visiting the injured students who were undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery.

“Couldn’t the chief minister’s Rs 1.5 crore bus drive him to Kalamassery,” the Union minister asked, referring to the specially designed bus in which Vijayan and his Cabinet colleagues tour all the 140 assembly constituencies in the state.

Muraleedharan recollected the recent bomb blast at a Christian prayer meeting at Kalamassery to blame the government for the repeated failure to ensure people’s security. “This is the same place where less than a month ago a bomb blast killed six people. What steps are being taken by the government to ensure that such instances are not repeated? Is Kerala moving to become an anarchic state where the safety of people’s lives can’t be ensured,” he said.

He was also highly critical of the police department. “The police commissioner has said that permission was not sought to conduct the musical night on the campus. Who is responsible for that? Is the police suggesting that they should be invited to a place for maintaining law and order,” he said.

Stating that there were serious lapses in the manner the event was organised, the minister said an explanation should be sought from the university authorities also if needed. He said there was no system in place to evacuate the crowd in case of an untoward incident. “There was not even a single ambulance arranged at the venue,” he said.

He hailed the staff of the Kalamassery Medical College for bringing down the gravity of the tragedy with their timely interventions.