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Home ministry team visits Madras to study law and order

Pressurised by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha's demand to dismiss the M Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu, Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani on Wednesday despatched a team of top officials to Madras to review the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

The team, headed by home ministry's Special Secretary Ashok Kumar, held high-level discussions with the state government officials and the Intelligence Bureau officers. It will submit a detailed report on the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu to the home minister within a fortnight.

Ministry sources said Advani's move to study the law and order situation in the state is a prelude to the dismissal of the Karunanidhi government. "The Central officials will also collate information on whether the DMK government has been harbouring fundamentalist groups in the state," an official told Rediff On The Net.

Sources said Advani's decision to assess the law and order problem in Tamil Nadu stems from some 'incriminating documents' that Jayalalitha submitted to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government two weeks back.

Jayalalitha has declared since then that she "will not rest until the Karunanidhi government is dismissed and President's rule is imposed in Tamil Nadu".

The documents from the AIADMK chief are said to be containing 'ample evidence' which suggest that there has been a nexus between the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham cadres and fundamentalist outfits like Al Umma and the Jihad Committee in Tamil Nadu.

The DMK government had been giving patronage to these organisations despite several communal riots, allegedly involving Al Umma and the Jihad Committee, coming to light before the election-eve serial bomb blasts in Coimbatore, Jayalalitha has submitted before Advani.

The blasts -- coinciding with Advani's election tour at Coimbatore -- have been widely blamed on the Karunanidhi government. It has also been targeted for its 'deliberate attempt to underplay' the militant groups in the state and to ignore specific tipoffs from the Centre about the threat perception to political leaders.

Jayalalitha has also accused the DMK government of not arresting Al Umma's founder Basha despite repeated requests from the AIADMK. Basha, a big-time real estate agent and timber merchant in Tamil Nadu, was once a detenue under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.

Soon after the Coimbatore blasts, the DMK government banned both Al Umma and the Jihad Committee. But Jayalalitha's case against Karunanidhi is that both these outfits and other Muslim organisations like the Islamic United Front and the Islamic Defence Force secured immunity from the DMK government and unleashed terror under state patronage.

Home ministry officials and the Intelligence Bureau, which have been keeping a close tab on the Karunanidhi government for the past many months, have reportedly informed Advani that the DMK government has failed to check the fundamentalists's activities in the state.

Whether Jayalalitha, who has been carrying on a relentless campaign to oust Karunanidhi, will succeed in her mission will be known after Advani gets a fact-finding report from the Central officials in the days to come.

Vajpayee has categorically asserted in Parliament recently that the BJP-led government would not misuse Article 356 of the Constitution.

But many believe that Vajpayee, compelled by Jayalalitha's anti-Karunanidhi campaign, will be forced to dismiss the DMK government in course of time to keep the BJP-led coalition government going.

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