Karunanidhi has woken up with a start to the reality, to the ominous portents of the recommendation of the ATR to investigate him further. The rational mind, which had all these days been languishing in a self-created realm of relief and misplaced complacence, has suddenly realised that the past has indeed come back to roost. The glib tongue that so innocuously dismissed the interim report as just ‘old wine’ has suddenly found the taste of the ethnic brew a little too bitter and unpalatable.
Unfortunately for the DMK chief, even after almost a decade, the hangover caused by the heady ethnic wine still continues to linger, his efforts to shake off the daze turning vain. The LTTE ghost simply refuses to be exorcised, rising again, once again, much to the chagrin and discomfort of the TN CM.
This time around, unlike the reaction to the interim report which was even more damning, Karunanidhi and his band of co-borns are panic personified, as they frantically scamper around in search of succour and saviours and finding neither, they have promptly proceeded to threaten all and sundry, true to their upbringing, about the catastrophe that would befall the State if the DMK government were to be dismissed.
Indeed, we must remind these rational paragons that nothing had been more catastrophic than successive DMK governments that had rendered this tranquil State of yore, a land of assassinations, bombs, caste clashes and what not. Rather it would be tantamount to perpetuating a catastrophe only if this criminal government is not sent packing with godspeed!
Karunanidhi now wants to know why there should be two ATRs. Simple. Because there are two reports, one interim and one final. The interim report virtually indicted him and his criminal regime of openly colluding and abetting the LTTE, that initially paved the way for Rajiv’s killers to entrench themselves in the State and ultimately cleared the decks for the assassination.
Yet the ATR submitted by the Gujral government found no reason to act on it. The final report has now found that anomaly too disconcerting and has therefore recommended further probe into the dubious role of Karunanidhi’s rule prior to the assassination. The present ATR now finds reason, based on the misgivings expressed by the final report, to pursue the matter further. Where is the contradiction? If anything there has only been an effort to avoid subversion of justice, for it is never too late when it is a question of bringing someone to book for acts that facilitated one of the most dastardly crimes of the century.
So, it was Jayalalitha who has inspired the report, if DMK rhetoricians are to be believed. If so, how come Subramanian Swamy’s name happened to figure in the final report as well as the ATR? Also, it was just the other day that Karunanidhi, finding that the prospect of dismissal had slightly dimmed, praised the BJP for not succumbing to pressures.
In fact, the CM never misses an opportunity to drive home the point that the PM is beyond influence of allies and to prove his point he has always cited the BJP’s reluctance to dismiss his government. But all of a sudden now, he sees a plot emerging. The ‘friendly’ BJP, the same party which refused to toe the line of his arch enemy, is now colluding with that enemy to finish off his government, he bemoans.
Politically motivated, he screams. Why not, Sir? After all, it was the political motivation of the UF government, in which the Uncle’s nephew and a few coborns were constituents, that helped Karunanidhi survive the sweeping condemnation of his activities in the interim report. Why should the DMK chief cry wolf now? After all, it is the fair-minded, balanced BJP government, in which DMK claims to have several friends including Vajpayee himself, that has now decided to initiate action.
What was the DMK’s argument when the Special Court verdict was delivered? Not a single DMK party functionary in the list of those indicted. The argument was fallacious even then, for there was not a single DMK functionary in the accused list itself which was known even before the interim report was made public, and even a legal layman would know that only those accused can be indicted or acquitted.
Yet the DMK propaganda machinery went to town that their party has indeed been exonerated and the interim report allegations have been falsified. Now the final report, besides suggesting further interrogation of Karunanidhi himself, has also included in the list of suspects, Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, who is still with the DMK and has even suggested that there was no justification for their being let off the hook by the SIT.
In short, Jain has averred she and a few others should have also been included in the original list of accused. It would suffice to say here that, in such a case, the law would most certainly have taken its own course. Unfortunately, the law was not given such an opportunity. The ATR now seems to say that it is not too late even now.
Fair enough. Remember the bit about justice delayed etc., etc. We should believe that it not only applies to the benefit of innocents, but also to those perceived as even remotely being guilty. All said, the DMK now has in its midst, someone very high, whose interrogation has been deemed necessary and another person who should have indeed been in the accused list itself. What do they have to say now?
If Karunanidhi and his cohorts are truly innocent we wonder why they should all tremble like aspen in unison at the very prospect of a further probe. The deluge of rhetoric and insinuations that has now been let loose through the party forum, clearly indicates that all is not well with their past and a fear has gripped the party mandarins that their fifty year show may well come to an end soon.
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