Chennai: Even as the ruling DMK and the BJP are engaged in a war of words over the Deepavali eve Coimbatore car blast, Governor RN Ravi on Friday has put the state government on the mat for the 'delay' of four days in granting the nod for the NIA to take over the probe.
When the relationship between the Raj Bhavan and the state government is on a rocky terrain, the governor appearing to bat for the BJP might invite criticism of being openly partisan.
In a series of tweets, Ravi “expressed serious concern over the delay of four days in handing over the Coimbatore blast case to NIA and possible destruction of crucial evidence in a high profile terror plot.” He also “recalled the recent series of petrol bomb targeted attacks in the state for over five days following a ban on PFI and the routine response of the administration.”
Interestingly, he made the same remarks at an event earlier in the day at Coimbatore. Yet, he took to Twitter to reiterate them and reach a wider audience.
“We should not take this (Coimbatore Blast) lightly. Within a few hours, it emerged that it was a terror attack. As such, the question is why there was a delay in handing over to the NIA. Because in any terror attack, the initial minutes are very important. But, we gave the nod to NIA after four days. TN police are one of the best in the country and they handled this very well. They cannot on their own approach the NIA. Procrastination was on the part of those who had to take a decision. We should not give such an opportunity to terrorists and give up any soft approach in tacking terror,” he said in Coimbatore.
Recalling his days as Deputy National Security Adviser, Ravi said the TN police had informed him then that PFI was an extremist organization. “Coimbatore is becoming a haven for terror attacks. Earlier, the accused in this were under the watch of the NIA. We have failed in surveillance. They have planned many severe attacks, but that has been prevented. The seizure of explosive materials proves that there was a conspiracy,” he said at the event.
What the governor had said is no different from that of state BJP president K Annamalai and the saffron party's allies, AIADMK, Puthiya Thamizhagam. Like Annamalai and others, the governor blames it on intelligence failure and the government's soft handling of terror.
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From the very beginning, Annamalai pressed for an NIA probe and had written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in this regard. He also wondered why the police were hesitant in admitting the blast as a terror attack and being choosy in releasing details of the investigation.
The DMK hit back, with Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji demanding that the NIA first interrogate Annamalai. Dismissing the charge that the DMK government was going soft because of vote bank politics, he said “the dream of jackals in the garb of goats awaiting a communal clash would turn futile.”
Ever since the Raj Bhavan had withheld assent to a host of Bills, including those stripping the governor of the power to appoint Vice Chancellors of Universities, there is no love lost between the gubernatorial occupant and the state government. Ravi's unilateral action in appointing VCs and debunking the Dravidian ideology as well as eulogizing Sanatan Dharma has invited the wrath of the DMK and its allies. The DMK's official daily, 'Murasoli', had even dubbed him as parroting the views of the Sangh Parivar. Now, Ravi's insinuations on Chief Minister MK Stalin over the delay for the NIA probe will certainly open up a fresh round of battle.
