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Al Umma and PDP targeted Advani on Feb 14, says Karunanidhi

The outlawed Muslim fundamentalist organisation Al Umma and the People's Democratic Party headed by Abdul Nasser Madani had hatched a conspiracy to assassinate Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, when he visited Coimbatore on February 14 to address an election rally.

Disclosing this in the Tamil Nadu assembly today while replying to the discussion on the white paper on the serial blasts, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said the blasts, which had claimed more than 60 lives, were part of an attempt on Advani's life.

He also revealed that detailed investigation taken up by the state crime branch police confirmed that three belt-bomb assassins, besides seven extremists, had been assigned the task of assassinating Advani at the meeting venue.

Karunanidhi said the conspiracy had been hatched by Al Umma chief S A Basha and general secretary Mohammad Ansari and PDP leader Abdul Nasser Madani during the first week of December in Kerala and Coimbatore and some other places in the state.

He said the three extremists had collectively and separately hatched the plot, after which began the process of procuring explosives from Kerala and Karnataka. As part of this, Ansari had called on Mohamad Ashraf, an MP from Karnataka, who arranged for the supply of ten country-made rifles, he alleged.

He said the conspiracy, however, could not be successfully executed as none of the three suicide-bombers and seven extremists, who were armed with hand grenades, could penetrate the tight security cover, around the meeting venue.

Karunanidhi said the belt-bomb assassins had been brainwashed by Basha and despatched from Madras. There was, however, no evidence to show that the assassins had been killed in the explosions near the meeting venue, he clarified.

Giving a detailed account of the background of the blasts, Karunanidhi said the seeds of extremism were sown after the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, but the immediate provocation for the blasts came from the killing of 18 Muslims and destruction of Muslims' property in the wake of the murder of a traffic constable at Coimbatore in the last week of November 1997.

He said the Al Umma had originally planned to set off the blasts a week after Ramzan, but deferred the plan to February 22 after the Lok Sabha election was announced. The date was advanced to February 14 after it became known that Advani would address an election meeting in the textile city on that day.

He said after explosives were procured from Kerala and Karnataka, Al Umma member Siddickk Ali prepared the list of places where the blasts would be set off.

Karunanidhi said the extremists had succeeded in setting off the serial blasts but could not get anywhere close to Advani as he had been given security cover equivalent to that of the prime minister.

Virtually rejecting the demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the blasts, Karunanidhi said the case was being effectively probed by the state CB-CID police headed by an inspector general of police.

He was not averse to a CBI probe, but the Centre and the CBI were not keen to take up a few cases earlier, Karunanidhi said.

When the state government had sought a CBI inquiry into the blasts in three trains in the state and Kerala on December 6, the Union home ministry wrote back, quoting the CBI, that the state police could handle the case effectively and it did not warrant a probe by the premier investigating agency, he said.

Similarly, the Centre had also turned down the state government's plea for a CBI probe into the desecration of the statue of Muthuramalinga Thevar in a southern district, he added.

He said the CB-CID probe was going in the right direction and it was expected to reveal many more details.

Karunanidhi said the state government had acted swiftly after it was alerted by the central and state intelligence agencies about the possibility of blasts and instructed district collectors and superintendents of police to take precautionary measures.

He said while explosives were seized in the rest of the state, the then Coimbatore police commissioner maintained that there was nothing alarming in his area.

Without mentioning the then commissioner Nanjil Kumaran by name, Karunanidhi charged the official with having failed to act on the tip-off provided by the agencies. The explanation given by the official was not satisfactory and a chargesheet would be filed against him under disciplinary proceedings, he added.

Having a dig at the Opposition, especially the All India Anna DMK for trying to politicise the blasts, he described the growth of extremism as a social problem and sought the co-operation of all political parties and social organisations to wipe out the menace.

Karunanidhi said Basha's hatred towards Hindus and BJP leaders was evident from the entries made in his diary seized by the police. It indicated that Basha was aghast that Advani and Vishwa Hindu Parishad president Ashok Singhal, both accused in the case relating to the Babri Masjid demolition, were given "royal" treatment while Muslim leaders were treated shabbily.

He disputed his predecessor Jayalalitha's claim that the state had remained a "garden of peace" when the rest of the country was up in flames when the mosque was pulled down. Violent incidents were witnessed in the state from December 6 to 11, 1992, with 158 vehicles being damaged and 18 vehicles set ablaze, he said.

In stone throwing incidents, 14 Muslims, 12 Hindus and 78 police personnel were injured and property worth Rs 51,52,000 were damaged. While 1,840 people were arrested as a preventive measure, 2,041 were detained on specific charges, he added.

Police firings were reported in Tirunelveli (four), Vellore (three), Coimbatore (two), Thanjavur (two) and Kanyakumari (one) in which two people were killed and 21 others were injured, he added.

UNI

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