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With the Jain report once again getting tabled in the media before being leaked to Parliament, one cannot help wondering at the jinx that has got hold of this beleaguered commission of inquiry.
From its very inception, it has trudged along from one controversy after another, with powerful men in and out of power wanting to scuttle it even as the panel found itself at the receiving end of a covert programme of official non-cooperation.
Even an expression of displeasure by Rajiv’s widow over the tardy progress of the investigations into the assassination evoked little sense of urgency, even in a Congress government. It would indeed be wishful thinking to expect non-Congress governments like the UF then, and now the BJP, to pick up the threads and pursue the probe to its logical end.
After seven years of extensive deliberations by the Jain commission and 26 convictions secured by the SIT, the masterminds and those who allowed it all to happen, are still at large, some even in positions of power. No doubt the immediate conspirators, the hands that killed Rajiv have been brought to book, but then are those twenty six just about all of them? If Jain were to be believed, there are twenty one more suspects, who ought to have been subjected to ‘further scrutiny, examination and action in accordance with law’.
The Jain list contains the names of a number of LTTE activists besides several Indians including former DMK Minister Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and some DK activists. Jain also goes on to claim that the SIT should have also interrogated Tamilnadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi as he felt it would have been relevant in regard to ‘many matters’.
The DMK and its leader’s affinity and affection for the LTTE is no secret, and is in fact common knowledge among the people of the State and has also been extensively chronicled in Jain’s interim report. Even in the final report, Jain says that further proof had come to the commission about the ‘rear base’ and facilitation being given to the LTTE cadres during the DMK regime. He adds that this has been further borne out by reports of the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB), Madras, which were given to the commission after the submission of the interim report.
The reports, dealing with the period 1989-91, when the DMK was in power in the State, trace the movements of boats and arrival of arms in coastal Tamilnadu as well as give proof to the ‘logistical and medical assistance that was readily being given to LTTE cadres’. The intelligence reports also reinforce the allegations that the ‘LTTE had a fertile ground in Tamilnadu for its operations during the DMK rule’.
The reports also indicate that the Ministry of Home Affairs of the National Front government, of which the DMK was a constituent, had been kept informed about the ‘material and moral’ support to the LTTE from the DMK sympathisers. One such message was sent to the Home Secretary as early as January 30,1990.
The report quotes this letter which says that ‘the LTTE has been taking full advantage of the sympathies of the DMK in Tamilnadu…local DMK leaders have also been collaborating with the LTTE in their illegal trafficking and activities…’
Jain quotes all these and more for suggesting that Karunanidhi should have also been questioned by the SIT. But an attempt is now being made to give the impression that the final report has diluted the indictment of the Karunanidhi regime by the interim report.
Even in the interim report Jain never accused the DMK of plotting to kill Rajiv Gandhi; rather the entire focus of the interim report was on the immediate circumstances that paved the way for the assassination and Jain had concluded that the open abetment and encouragement of the LTTE by the DMK government was directly responsible for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
And in the final report Jain has reiterated his observations on the DMK government as has been detailed above and has even included a former DMK Minister in the suspects list, besides expressing a need for the interrogation of the Chief Minister. Where is the dilution? The fact that the final report focusses more on the international conspiracy angle, the intelligence lapses and the role of godmen-or is it godforsaken men?-might have made the DMK angle look relatively trivial, but in absolute terms, the DMK does retain its share of blame and guilt for the assassination as has been documented in the interim report.
If anything Jain has only sought to mitigate the damage caused by a deliberate misinterpretation by vested interests of his so-called sweeping condemnation of all Tamils of Tamilnadu. He has now clarified that he had referred to only a very few and not the entire population of Tamilnadu. Jain is aghast that such a twist could be given to an innocuous reference and wails that the expression, deep nexus, could never have been intended to include all Tamil speaking people.
But then Jain is a novice to the wily ways of self-confessed palmgrove foxes and has truly paid for his ignorance. He certainly needs to be chastised for allowing such a slip, but it also speaks volumes of the ability of ‘those few’ Tamils to whip up passions and divert people’s attention from their own squalid dealings.
The unravelling of the larger conspiracy still remains in the realms of illusion. The possibility of foreign intelligence agencies working in collusion with the LTTE, the activities of the Chandra-Shekar-Swamy trio prior to the assassination and the foolish lapses of the intelligence agencies have all been subjected to extensive scrutiny, but beyond seeking further probe on these counts, Jain has been able to shed very little light on the blackest event in recent times.
For those who loved the gentle Rajiv, it has become a pipe dream that all those who masterminded, facilitated and perpetrated the dastardly killing would ever be fully identified, leave alone being brought to book. For, those who masterminded are still at large, those who facilitated are in power and those who perpetrated have the benefit of the legal process. It would suffice, therefore, for us to conclude that there is only one person who could really be held responsible and guilty for taking Rajiv’s life. Yama!
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