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Rajiv gandhi and his killers

By Prem Chandran We are living in unreal times. Times when the impossible is possible, and the possible impossible. How .....




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02-19-2014
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Thumbs up Rajiv gandhi and his killers


By Prem Chandran

We are living in unreal times. Times when the impossible is possible, and the possible impossible. How else to describe the ultimate release of the last set of convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, three of them, following commutation of their death sentences into Life term, and their immediate exit from prison on the (no doubt justifiable) ground they have already been imprisoned for more years that a Life term would warrant? And, alongside, a generous Jayalalitha decides to free the rest of the convicts in jail, including the infamous Nalini, as well!

What have India’s administrative and legal systems done to bring the perpetrators of one of the most heinous crimes in this country, a gang that executed it at the behest of interested groups working from abroad, to justice? Will there be another country on Earth where men or women committing such a grave crime go virtually scot free? Where is India’s dignity, and where is the strength of its legal and administrative systems? What will people outside of this country make of this nation?

The Supreme Court that has decided to commute the death sentence cannot be faulted. It has, after all, done its job 13 years ago, and it has done its job now as well. The apex court had okayed as earlier as 1999 a TADA court judgment giving these three convicts death sentence, following which they filed mercy petitions. The Indian government sat on it for 13 years, when governments changed, but the fact is also that the last 10 years belonged to the rule of Rajiv Gandhi’s own family enterprise, the Congress party, with his widow at the helm of affairs and calling the shots. Still, why have the files relating to the mercy petitions remained in cold storage and got covered in dust for a decade and more?

The mercy petitions are addressed to the President, and the president refers the matter in normal course to the Central Government. And, the Central Government guided and lorded over by none other than the assassinated leader’s widow, and a while before that the BJP, sat over the files for no justifiable reason.

Yet, the same government has the gumption to tell the Supreme Court now that there was no “undue delay” in taking a decision. Understandable, considering the way governance in this country is being conducted by the desi babus and netas, both sets for whom shame and accountability are not words in their dictionaries. Do we blame them or those of us who queue up at intervals to elect these netas into power, for them to do little other than pocketing this nation’s riches in multiple ways and either putting the ill-gotten wealth in real estate within the country or stashing it for deposit in banks abroad for their future generations? That these elements have had the best of times during the Sonia Gandhi era, when we had a puppet as Prime Minister, is common knowledge by now.

“Exorbitant delay in disposal of mercy petitions renders the process of execution of death sentence arbitrary, whimsical and capricious, and therefore inexplicable. Furthermore, such imprisonment, occasioned by inordinate delay in the disposal of mercy petitions, is beyond the sentence accorded by the court and to that extent is extra legal and excessive,” the Supreme Court has noted. Stressing that the authorities should “dispose of the mercy petitions filed before them in an expeditious manner,” the apex court stressed, “Regardless and independent of the suffering it causes (to the aggrieved parties), delay makes the process of execution of death sentence unfair, unreasonable, arbitrary and thereby violates procedural due process guaranteed under article 21 of the Constitution and the dehumanizing effect is presumed in such cases.”

So, what were the so-called first family and its government doing for a decade, on a matter that, in normal circumstances, should have been dear to their heart? Were they playing flute or were they having a larger agenda? If so, what precisely was that agenda, other than, of course, not rubbing the Tamil political allies the wrong way, and keep enjoying the warmth of power? Has anyone given the licence to Tamil politicians to plead the case of anti-national elements – elements who have brutally killed a former Prime Minister of this country, who by far was the topmost political leader at the time of his killing, and whose party ruled this nation for much of its post-Independence years?

Where do they, the Tamil politicos, derive the gumption to press such cases other than from the perceived weakness of those who claim to be governing a nation of one billion plus people from Delhi? Who whipped up the sentiments of Tamils in this respect other than these regional politicians who made ‘loot of the exchequer’ to fill their family coffers the first item on their political agenda? A Raja is no more than a sacrificial goat for the bigger game plans of men who, on the surface, claim to uphold the Dravidian cause. Time will be a great leveler, and time will hopefully show these economic highway robbers their place. The Karunanidhi edifice is already showing signs of crumbling; and the Jayalalitha enterprise might remain afloat for a while more, not a long time more, than its rivals would.

There was nothing that Sonia Gandhi, for one, needed to do in respect of the mercy pleas, other than sitting back and allowing the files to move along its normal course. At worst, though even this was unlikely, if some parts of Tamil Nadu were to be up in flames, so be it. That, one hopes, should be the spirit in which a nation should be governed.

The same argument held back the mercy plea of a Kashmiri separatist, Afzal Guru, for many years after he and others of his ilk plotted to bomb Indian Parliament. Yet, when faced with extreme pressure, and a nudging from new President Pranab Mukherjee, the government cleared the file and Afzal was executed. There was nothing more than a murmur or whimper from Kashmir. Life there was as usual. But, now, questions are asked as to why Afzal was taken to the gallows and not the ‘anti-nationals’ from the South or Sri Lanka? If this perceived double standard is going to add to the frayed tempers among Kashmiri Muslims, and make matters worse for the government and the security forces there, who will own up the blame? Not Sonia Gandhi, not Manmohan Singh, and not the inner circle in the Sonia power structure.

Note that a case as serious and explosive as the Rajiv Gandhi assassination took eight years for a judgment --and appreciably only a year or so for the Supreme Court to approve it – and that the related mercy petitions remained on the shelves of a non-functional central government apparatus for 13 years without the government having the inclination or nerve to take a decision. This speaks eloquently of the farce that is being enacted in this country in the name of governance by a set of self-seeking, shameless power brokers and the public faces that are associated with them. That there is no governance worth the name in this country is more than clear to one and all by now.

If there is "governance", that is in distorted ways like targeting those who come in the way of the power juggernaut; Tarun Tejpal, for one, is struggling in jail for months without even a bail, for the reason he made a sexual advance to a woman colleague in a hotel lift. Parikkar's police is making sure Tejpal cooled his heels in jail for a long time. And, on the other, Jayalalitha is itching to release elements associated with a crime as heinous as the Rajiv killing. In Goa, we have a taste of Narendra Modi, a preview of his style before he ascends the throne! Under a Narendra Modi governance one can well imagine how the bandicoots who plague the media behave, and how many of them will have the guts or backbone to make a hero out of themselves on TV screens! In the minimum, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh gave them a free way.

Symbolism matters. The august Parliament, the ultimate forum of the people, is dysfunctional now, as is amply evident from the past few sessions when no discussion worth its name was possible, and bedlam prevailed day after day, week after week, and bills were rushed through vote and passed without discussions. Talk among knowledgeable circles is that the government itself engineered some of these disruptions, with helpful allies like Mulayam Singh at its beck and call. When there is no scope for discussions in the process of law enactment, why do we need to have something called a Parliament? Why do we spend a billion and more for its upkeep? Another indication of how the entire systems in this country have gone for a toss. So much so, we do not know what is real, what the unreal! Even a Narendra Modi era is unlikely to make a difference. premcee@gmail.com; indiahereandnow.com

Last edited by Premchandran; 02-20-2014 at 01:04 PM
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02-20-2014
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if a Prime Minister's killers are being set free, what justice can the common man expect?"

 



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