It is foolish to throw stones from inside a glass house. But the DMK had been doing just that ever since it ascended to power, unmindful of the timebomb which has been ticking under its edifice for the last several years. The LTTE ghost simply refuses to be exorcised and keeps coming back to haunt the party and its leaders.
The party in a way is paying for its misplaced perceptions on several issues under the garb of self-respect and rationalism. Their high voltage propaganda had always been rich in rhetoric but short in substance, and is marked by a palpable ignorance of the proverbial four fingers pointing at them. Their loud talk has almost always been directed towards diverting attention from their own squalid dealings and their gift of the gab has the capacity of pulling the wool over the eyes of even the most ardent of critics, as happened in 1996. Their virtue lies in keeping their flock intact so that they can storm the corridors of power at every opportunity. But to their chagrin, their tenures have always been short circuited by a draconian Article 356, which might rear its head again, if Congress really means business. Also January is not far away.
The hue and cry over the leakage of the report, or to quote the CM, the release of the report is, therefore, a typical attempt at diverting the prying eyes of the people and press from their sordid past which has once again come into focus. Even if one were to accept the argument that Justice Jain himself leaked the report, there are certainly laws to pull him up for the misdemeanour. Yet, it in no way takes the sting off the revelations in the report, which the DMK so far has not denied. In fact its leader has only confirmed the findings by calling it old wine. Even the newspaper editorials, which the party organ, extensively quotes, only say that the panelās report has little to add to the already established fact of the DMKās affinity to the LTTE.
And the Jain commission with evidences and testimonies has not only confirmed these but has also come to the conclusion that the party and its leadersā open encouragement and abetment with LTTE was directly responsible for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. It was never the duty of the commission to assume the powers of the court to pass a judgment that could be legally implemented. And Justice Jain has also not done that. He has only created a framework for the Centre to act by pointing out circumstances leading to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and in doing so has found the DMK guilty of collusion and connivance, and VP Singh and the like of gross negligence.
It is a different matter whether they can all be brought to book in the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv. Rather, it would be presumptuous to even hazard a guess, though our CM relishes predictions on who would certainly go to jail, notwithstanding the pendence of trial in the courts. But no doubt there is a political price to pay and arguments that the price had already been paid will not wash. Tiger riding is a dangerous pastime with an inbuilt potential for doom for the riders.
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