It looks as if the life disposal squad had been working overtime ever since the interim report exploded in the face of the UF government. If the final report lacks the fire and verve of the interim report, it is primarily because Jain had said much in the interim report itself which had woken up the powers that be to the ominous portents of the final report.
Also friendly allies who were aware of the explosive potential of the Jain report, twenty days back itself, had obviously tipped off the incumbents who wasted no time in defusing the Jain bomb. Perhaps that, and the refusal of the Gujral government to grant the panel the two month extension it sought to do justice to its marathon tenure, have together ensured that Justice Jain does not cross the danger level, which meant drawing conclusive evidence out of suggestive evidence. It is a pity that having come so far, he was not at all allowed to fill the final gap.
If Karunanidhi pounced on the opportunity offered by an inconclusive report that was prematurely sabotaged, his ally and friend through thick and thin, Moopanar, had proved himself to be more loyal than the king himself. Besides issuing a general red alert about the explosive contents of the report, which he claims he knew twenty days back, the TMC leader gone to town on the virtues of the DMK leader and one was left wondering if it was Moopanar or Saidai Kittu who was talking.
To be sure it was the former, and he waxed eloquent on the innocence of the DMK men, who he claimed, were absolute lambs, totally unaware of the world of bombs and guns and it was indeed a travesty of fate and justice that such meek men should have been subjected to so much of torment. Moopanar’s tears of joy at his friend’s pseudo-exoneration would certainly have cooled the hearts of the DMK leader, who it is learnt, is reeling under an immense heat wave generated by the recent electoral defeat, spate of bomb blasts and the portent of the familiar Art 356.
But it is doubtful if the deluge of eyewash would alter the reality witnessed, then and now, on his ally’s proclivity for a hands-off policy when it comes to dealing with those from the underworld, who have a tendency to place bombs underneath innocent civilians.
Perhaps, emotions and ecstasy have slightly jaded the memory of the TMC leader. Moopanar’s contention that the LTTE era had to be divided as pre-assassination is itself a result of a blurred vision of the past. History would, instead seek to divide it into pre- and post-accord, when the policy of the Indian government witnessed a clear shift vis-a-vis the Sri Lankan problem and the insurgency there.
Moopanar’s argument that all parties had supported the LTTE before Rajiv’s assassination is nothing but pure kite flying and an attempt to vitiate chronology. The LTTE and Rajiv Gandhi became mutual persona non grata as early as July of 1987, when the latter decided to go ahead with the signing of the accord with Jayawardhane, much to the displeasure of Prabakaran. The special court that tried the assassination case, while elaborating on the LTTE leader’s motive has clearly stated that Prabakaran dicided to kill Rajiv on the day the Indian Prime Minister spurned his request not to sign the accord.
And the IPKF which went to the island was primarily engaged in fighting the LTTE which had caused a lot of heart-burns to the Thaanaithalaivan and his co-borns here. The militant outfit had at that time itself re-established its contacts with Karunanidhi, who gave them moral support, as he was out of power.
And once he occupied the Fort.St.George after the demise of his ‘forty year friend’, the moral support took more practical shape and the exit of Rajiv from the Central government and the installation of the V.P.Singh regime came in quite handy to the DMK. The IPKF was promptly called back and Karunanidhi exhibited his nationalistic fervour by refusing to even welcome the Indian army when it landed on the TN shores.
The rest is bloody history, the LTTE’s free access to the nook and corners of the State, its open acts of retribution against its enemies, though they were also Tamils, and their blatant abuse of even the official machinery to carry on with their nefarious activities all went not only unchecked but were even patronised. Jain himself says a DMK woman Minister had harboured LTTE militants in her farmhouse and had even helped Sivarasan to escape.
And all this was happening, not when friend, but rather when they had declared India and Rajiv as their sworn enemies. It is common knowledge that when the LTTE declares someone an enemy, they would promptly despatch that ‘traitor’ to the heavens, which is what they did to Rajiv in the most gruesome manner possible.
Yet, Moopanar talks as if the DMK had never heard of the LTTE or that they were unaware of the mischief potential of the militant outfit. We ask him, which other party supported and encouraged the LTTE as much as the DMK did? Was there not a qualitative difference between the moral support extended by the other political parties and even the people of the State and the open abetment of criminal activities of the LTTE by the DMK? What caused the murder of Rajiv?
Was it the heart — felt sympathy of the TN Tamils to the Lankan Tamils of the acquiescence in the deeds of the gun-toting terrorists by the rulers themselves? If LTTE was distant history, would Moopanar bother to examine, with a critical eye and not with a compassionate eye, the happenings in recent history? Where did the bombers of Kovai and their bombs emerge from?
Is the TMC leader aware that most of those who are now behind bars were languishing in the prisons even when the DMK government took over two years ago, and they were let off, firstly to keep an election promise and secondly on consideration of minority appeasement. All those who have been booked or are still at large have been habitual offenders and history-sheeters, and yet his friend’s government did nothing to monitor or check their activities.
Reason: Electoral considerations. What has he say to reports that the terrorists were ‘advised’ not to do anything precipitate until the elections were over, when the authorities were tipped off about the impending bomb blasts?
It may suit the TMC leader to feel vindicated for clinging on to his misplaced faith in a dubious ally. But he is no pied piper nor are the masses inclined to be led to their doom.
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