Commentary/T V R Shenoy

Can the UF survive Congress demands for the heads of V P Singh, Karunanidhi and Chidambaram?

For two weeks, this column has been begging everyone to squander no time on debating side-issues like the Tata tapes when ULFA should occupy our minds. Indulge me once again, and forget about the headline-grabbing dramas in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

The real story today isn't the fate of Kalyan Singh or Shankersinh Vaghela. It is the impending doom of the I K Gujral government.

Of course, calling this the 'Gujral' ministry is a bit of a joke. Our NRI prime minister is a mere puppet. Fittingly, then, the guns aren't aimed at him, but at Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, and Palaniappan Chidambaram (among others).

It will be Congress fingers that pull the trigger. But the ammunition will have been provided by Justice Milap Chand Jain, who investigated Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

Is it true that V P Singh's National Front government 'tolerated' the growth of LTTE influence in India? Is it true that the Karunanidhi ministry of 1990-91 indulged in a 'growing connivance' with terrorists? And why did Chidambaram, who threatened to expose everything, suddenly fall silent?

Justice Jain hasn't, as yet, found any proof of a conspiracy. But his questions are designed to make the United Front squirm. And he has also raised some new issues.

Take our old friends in the ULFA. M C Jain has found an LTTE-ULFA nexus formed as far back as 1988-89. It seems the two militant outfits 'combined their endeavours' in Tamil Nadu.

Well, it is axiomatic that birds of a feather flock together. But it is another matter altogether when 'credible reports' arise of senior DMK leaders being hand-in-glove with the LTTE. Especially so, if militants were truly 'in continuous interaction' with Chief Minister Karunanidhi.

What was Delhi doing in the days when the LTTE enjoyed total freedom of action in Madras? Simple, V P Singh was too busy with Devi Lal to bother about distant Tamil Nadu.

The messiah of the Janata Dal can't pretend he didn't know what was happening. The Intelligence Bureau gave him the unvarnished facts. But the National Front ministry took no active steps to check the drift.

I don't believe for a moment that either Karunanidhi or V P Singh were involved in the assassination plot. But their deliberate blindness permitted the LTTE to entrench itself in the soil of Tamil Nadu.

But what is truly of inexcusable is the behaviour of the late leader's so-called friends. I refer specifically to P Chidambaram, once internal security minister under Rajiv Gandhi, and then in charge of the assassination probe in Narasimha Rao's day.

Let me quote what Chidambaram said on February 25, 1991 in the Lok Sabha. "I would be constrained to make very serious allegations... I take full responsibility for every statement."

What exactly did he say? "There are four broad heads on which I wish to speak. Firstly, the subversion of the law and order machinery in Tamil Nadu to cater to the needs of the militants, particularly the LTTE."

Then he continued, "Secondly, the political nexus between the National Front leaders and ministers on the one hand and the LTTE on the other."

And further, "Thirdly, the machinations of key civil servants to advance their personal interests and the political interests of the DMK. And fourthly, the massive cover-up indulged in by the V P Singh and the Karunanidhi governments in 1990 when intelligence reports brought to surface all that was going on in Tamil Nadu."

These are indeed very serious charges. But the same Chidambaram sang a different tune in 1996.

The finance minister's current position is that his speech in Parliament 'reflected the position of my party.' It was merely 'a political statement made on behalf of my party'. Where did those fine words about taking 'full responsibility' go?

But there is a difference between orating in Parliament and deposing under oath. Of course, Chidambaram can whine that he has "complete immunity in respect of speeches made by me in Parliament." Yet why should anyone claim 'immunity' if they tell the truth?

Small wonder Justice Jain comments that "he has gone a little mild and soft in his deposition as compared to the contents of his speech!" Mani Shankar Aiyar is less kind, roundly accusing Chidambaram of shifting with the political winds.

Now those winds are blowing against the United Front. The Congress can't afford to keep quiet once the Jain Commission's interim report is tabled in Parliament. (Its conclusions are already public knowledge anyway!) Can the United Front survive Congress demands for the heads of V P Singh, Karunanidhi, and Chidambaram?

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