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The Supreme Court today arrested the momentum of another battle over the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by Tamil militants by ordering a stay on the state government’s decision to release the convicts. But politics around the release refused to go away.
The court’s stay caused a pall of gloom to descend on Vellore jail where the convicts are lodged in the expectation that they would be released in a matter of days.
However, competitive politics got in the way. A day after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s anguished comment in Amethi yesterday (if a former Prime Minister canot get justice, what would the fate of the common man be) today caused the Prime Minister to declare that Tamil Nadu's decision was legally untenable, contrary to all principles of justice and "should not be proceeded with."
"The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was an attack on the soul of India. No government or party should be soft in our fight against terrorism," he said.
Singh was joined by other party colleagues. Union minister Rajiv Shukla said the Tamil Nadu government stood "exposed" as it was acting out of "political considerations" on the issue.
"It is good that the Supreme Court has stayed the release. The Tamil Nadu government, which was hell-bent on release the assassins of the late Prime Minister, has been thoroughly exposed. It shows their political motives are not right," said Shukla, who is the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs.
He criticised the Jayalalithaa government, saying it was acting out of political considerations.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said that commuting of death sentence does not mean a declaration of innocence. The brutal assassination of Rajiv Gandhi cannot be forgotten, he said.
To a question about the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's decision, Sharma said she has to give an explanation about her position on the LTTE in the past and what she is doing now.
"It is very distressing, we cannot drag partisan politics to that level," Sharma said.
He said other people from Tamil Nadu were also killed in the attack on Rajiv Gandhi. "It is, therefore, better left to the Supreme Court to take an appropriate view," he added.
But this cut very little ice in Tamil Nadu. Although there were no public demonstrations against the Supreme Court stay, firebrand leader of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) V Gopalaswami, thundered against the stay. MDMK which has an electoral alliance with the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) had welcomed the earlier Supreme Court order overturning the death sentence. “The judgment of the Supreme Court has gladdened Tamils worldwide. Since the Chief Justice of India has in the verdict said that considering the 23-year-long imprisonment period of the three, the State Government could consider releasing them, I appeal to the honorable Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to release them,” Gopalaswamy had said.
While Tamil Nadu was quiet today, what the reaction will be when the Supreme Court gives its final order, deciding the fate of the convicts, it is hard to say.
