Chennai: Training its guns on Governor RN Ravi, the ruling DMK has charged him with functioning as the president of the BJP's state unit. In an editorial, the party organ, 'Murasoli', refuted the governor's claim of four days delay in entrusting the probe into the botched-up Coimbatore car blast with a list of terror strikes across the country in which the FIRs were filed weeks and months later by the NIA and asked him not to air irresponsible remarks in public.
Ravi going public with his views had raised the hackles of the DMK and its allies for overstepping his limits as a constitutional head. And this is not the first time that he had invited their wrath. Often, the governor is accused of lending his shoulders to Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai. In the Coimbatore terror strike too, he is seen as echoing the views of the BJP leader with the intention of defaming the DMK and its government.
“Let him not become another Annamalai (BJP state president), the BJP can't bear it,” quipped the editorial on Monday, and the message it conveys is unmistakable.
Questioning the claim about a delay, 'Murasoli' listed the following terror attacks, in Delhi and in various states, and when the FIRs were registered. The blast at the Karkardooma court complex in Delhi happened on December 23, 2021, but the FIR was registered by the NIA on January 13, 2022. Similarly, on January 4, 2022, the Khejuri blast in West Bengal, NIA FIR was filed on January 25, 2022.
On January 27, 2022, Naihati explosion, also in West Bengal, NIA FIR was filed on February 8, 2022. Further, on January 30, 2022, a low-intensity explosion in Shillong, NIA FIR was filed on March 4, 2022. And the case pertaining to the March 18, 2022 explosion in Durtlang, Mizoram, was handed over to the NIA on July 20, 2022.
Also Read: Probe accused Ramkumar's death in prison, compensate his father: TN SHRC to govt
Further, the editorial asked why the NIA as well as the previous AIADMK government have failed to monitor Jamesha Mubin, the suicide bomber who died in the car blast, though he was under the NIA radar in 2019 but let off. Also, the BJP government at the Centre had waited for eight long years to amend the NIA Act and when the amendment was brought in Parliament, the DMK had extended support, it was pointed out adding that the party was committed to rooting out terrorism.
Earlier on Sunday, the DMK and its allies – Congress, Left parties, VCK, MMDK, and IUML besides the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) – issued a joint statement condemning the governor for becoming the voice of the Sangh Parivar, overstepping the limits of the office he holds and in violation of the constitution.
“He can freely air his contrarian views after resigning from the office of governor. It has become habitual for him to stoke controversy one or the other. Whatever it be, his views on Sanatan, Aryan, Dravidian, Scheduled Castes, and Thirukural are irrational and dangerous. He said that India is not a secular country since no nation can be without a religion. And that India can't be an exception. This not only goes against the preamble and basic structure of the constitution but exposes his ignorance,” the statement read.
Predictably, Annamalai rushed in to support the governor. In a series of tweets, he ridiculed the signatories to the joint statement as 'freeloaders' and 'doctorate in mass conversion' and thanked the governor “for his efforts to clean up TN politics' '.
With the BJP becoming more and more aggressive to capture the opposition space given up by the AIADMK, and the ruling DMK girding up its loins, more fireworks appear to be in store in Tamil Nadu politics.
