None of the twenty six convicted belongs to the DMK. The DMK stands exonerated.
So goes the Chief Minister’s refrain. The master script writer that he is, he is not expected to falter when narrating a plot. But then the sordid tale of Rajiv’s assassination with the attendant intrigues and conspiracies can confound even the best of story tellers and can rattle their rationalistic logic, especially when the writer himself figures in the theme. And so it is that the Kalaingar has, in surprising haste reacted to the judgement with misplaced relief. But even a novice novelist would tell him that none of the twenty six accused belonged to the DMK in the first place which was known even before this judgement. As only those accused could be convicted or acquitted, it logically follows that none of those convicted belongs to the DMK. It does not need a script writer of his caliber to come out with this profound interpretation.
But then why the hurry? And why this sense of relief? To be followed up by a truly satanic verse that the guilty can never get away. No one ever suggested that the DMK or its chief killed Rajiv. Or that they were part of the immediate conspiracy that led to the killing. Probably the DMK chief in a fit of paranoia sent his sense of rationalism to graze somewhere and believed so, himself. And maybe, with reason for he knows his conscience best.
The job of D.R.Karthikeyan’s SIT was to identify and bring to book the ‘hands’ that committed the heinous crime. Their role started with establishing the conspiracy that preceded and led to the murder, followed by identifying the conspirators and the killers, spelling out the modus operandi and then corroborating their findings with evidence, oral and documentary. The special court in turn has accepted the SIT’s case and given a far reaching, landmark verdict holding all accused guilty and to be hanged till death.
But the special court has not stopped with that. It has said something more. It has declared in no uncertain terms that the LTTE was directly responsible for conspiring and subsequently killing Rajiv Gandhi and has also gone on record on the motive. Therein lies the rub. The eminent judge has without saying so, kept the case open. These indictments are not the end of it all; not a full stop but a comma, to be connected, to be followed up and linked to a ‘larger’ conspiracy. The indictment of LTTE by the special court is the bridge that connects the immediate conspiracy to the larger conspiracy. And to the Jain commission. We all know what the Jain panel had to say about the circumstances leading to the murder, the LTTE’s role and the indictment of the DMK. If the special court had given an unambiguous verdict holding all the 26 guilty irrespective of their degree of participation in the ‘immediate’ conspiracy, the Jain panel has been equally emphatic in holding the DMK and its regime headed by Karunanidhi guilty in its findings on the larger conspiracy. The DMK was charged with creating a conducive situation for the militants so that they could operate with impunity and above all abetting them.
Perhaps it would be appropriate now to recall some of Jain’s findings:
* The LTTE was getting its supplies including arms, ammunition, explosives, fuel and other essential items for its war against the IPKF from Tamilnadu. That too with the support of the Tamilnadu government and the connivance of the law enforcement authorities.
* The LTTE sent personal emissaries to Karunanidhi for seeking his active support in their battle against the IPKF after the DMK leader took over as Chief Minister in January 1989.
* These overtures of the LTTE towards the DMK started a chain of events which led to LTTE’s survival and growth in Tamilnadu even after the hostilities between the IPKF and LTTE in Sri Lanka.
* The year 1989 signified the perpetuation of the general political trend of indulging in the Tamil militants on Indian soil and tolerance of their wide ranging criminal and anti-national activities.
* LTTE activities of arms smuggling, abduction of Indian citizens and officials and intimidation of the law enforcement machinery were tolerated.
* The brutal murder of Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front leader K Padmanabha along with 15 others in 19 June 1990, showed the impunity with which the LTTE could operate in India.
* According to an Intelligence Bureau report, Karunanidhi had sought from LTTE activist Natesan details of location of LTTE hideouts so that he could direct the police ‘to keep away from such places’.
* The Chief Minister also had told Natesan that killing of Padmanabha was a necessity and so also of Vardaraja Perumal (former Chief Minister of the northeastern province of Sri Lanka) and that Natesan should ensure that he (Karunanidhi) was taken into confidence before such acts are committed.
* It is believed that the LTTE hit squad which killed Padmanabha was later detailed for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
The SIT and special court have sealed the fate of Rajiv’s killers. The special court has also ruled that the LTTE was prima facie responsible for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Though old wine, the LTTE’s role has now been officially certified. The Jain panel has dwelt at great length on how the LTTE was able, or rather allowed to operate and who encouraged them, patronised them and even armed them. This nexus is again old wine by Karunanidhi’s own admission. Where is the exoneration? Why this sense of relief? Does not their rational minds realise that now is the time to really start worrying?
Tail piece
Significantly, the Chief Minister while pointing his index finger at those indicted and waxing eloquent on how the guilty cannot escape has even now not condemned the LTTE for killing Rajiv. Probably he is aware that the proverbial four fingers may tell a different story.
email the writer at [email protected]