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T V R Shenoy

The Congress did far worse than merely delay the Jain Commission probe

The Congress is treating the Jain Commission report as though it is a buffet. And the main dish on offer is a red herring in the shape of the DMK.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi was absolutely right when he described the Jain Commission's strictures on his party as "old wine in a new bottle." Everything that Milap Chand Jain has written about the DMK was spoken about -- far more viciously -- in 1991.

The mud-slinging began even before Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. In January 1991, Chandra Shekhar dismissed the DMK ministry in Tamil Nadu at the Congress's behest. In the subsequent debate in the Lok Sabha on February 25, Chidambaram was the spearhead of the Congress attack. He levelled very serious charges about the LTTE-DMK links, clarifying that he was taking "full responsibility."

In the emotionally charged, post-Sriperumbudur period, the insults went much further. I don't want to go into all that, but the point is that the alleged links between the DMK and the LTTE scarcely qualify as anything.

The hue and cry over the DMK is nothing but a diversion. So what is there in the Jain Commission report from which we are being diverted?

Very briefly, two things -- P Chidambaram's questionable ethics and the Congress party's own role in blocking investigations into Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. Those, not the DMK, are the real issues.

As noted above, Palaniappan Chidambaram was Rajiv Gandhi's voice in the Lok Sabha. He was subsequently the minister in charge of the assassination probes during the Narasimha Rao era. Given this history, how could any honourable man tie up with the DMK as he did for the 1996 general election?

That was the very question posed by the BJP's Jaswant Singh on the floor of Parliament. Chidambaram's response was to make fun of his interlocutor's accent. Their schoolboy humour was followed by one of the most novel defences ever offered.

Whatever charges had been levelled against the DMK, Chidambaram said, didn't matter any longer since the people had spoken so overwhelmingly in its favour at the polls. Remember this when the United Front and the Congress criticise some of Kalyan Singh's ministers -- alleged criminals or not, they too have been elected!

This shameful record of duplicity is revealed in cold print in the Jain Commission report. Testifying under oath, Chidambaram was reduced to claiming parliamentary privilege!

Now, for the finance minister's bosom buddies in the Congress. From 1991 to 1996, a Congress government ruled India. Yet in 1995, Sonia Gandhi herself charged the ministry with neglecting the assassination investigations. She spoke, as I recall, of her "anguish."

Sitaram Kesri was then a senior member of the Cabinet. There is no record whatsoever that he spoke up on the subject. If anything, the contrary is true. Arjun Singh mentioned the snail-like progress of the probe as one of the reasons for breaking with Rao. It was Kesri who then whipped party MPs into signing up for Rao.

But the Congress did far worse than merely delay a probe. Money was taken from the Intelligence Bureau and the RAW secret funds to actively encourage efforts to derail the Jain Commission altogether. When those attempts failed, the government adamantly refused access to vital papers, including those of the Special Investigation Team. Much of this has been mentioned by Justice Jain.

The doctrine of collective responsibility is one of the foundations of a parliamentary democracy. Several Congressmen enjoyed the benefits of ministerial office from 1991 to 1996. Should we allow them to make a sacrificial lamb of Narasimha Rao alone?

Let us understand three brutal facts. First, there is no evidence that Karunanidhi and his senior colleagues were party to the assassination conspiracy. Second, there is evidence that the Congress party tried to thwart the Jain Commission. Third, Chidambaram's own publicly-recorded statements suggest duplicity.

The Congress has chosen to focus only Justice Jain's comments about the DMK. (Even V P Singh has been forgotten!) Party spokesmen constantly urge the Indian public to drink "old wine."

But what of the new vintage? Why is nobody speaking of the Congress's own role? Or, for that matter, of Chidambaram?

If the Jain Commission report is flawed, then the powers that be have the duty to reject it totally. On the other hand, if they find its conclusions to be well reasoned, they must accept it totally. But they can't act like spoiled brats, picking out only the parts they want and refusing to take the rest!

EARLIER REPORT:
Jain panel report 'surprises' Chidambaram

EARLIER COLUMNS:
P Chidambaram and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
The Jain Commission can at last focus on the 'sequence of events'
which led to Rajiv's killing

T V R Shenoy