Political fallout that unfolded after the brutal killing of EPRLF leaders

The Hindu

2 days ago

The brutal killing of Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front's secretary-general K. Padmanabha, along with 14 others, in Chennai on June 19, 1990 had a lasting impact on the contemporary politics of Tamil Nadu. It also delivered a body blow to the EPRLF, most of whose leaders were wiped out in the attack in a busy colony at Kodambakkam.
The assassination led to a furore, and the then DMK government and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi became the prime target of political attack. Then on, critics of the DMK, such as the AIADMK and the Congress, carried on a relentless campaign until they got the DMK government dismissed in January 1991 on the ground that Karunanidhi and his administration were 'pusillanimous' in dealing with the security situation and were 'not being able' to maintain law and order. The EPRLF, a key adversary of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 'has never been able to fill the vacuum' caused by the 1990 killings, says EPRLF's former central committee member Sritharan Thirunavukkarasu, also known as Sugu. It went through different rounds of churning. These days, it is a political party that has a limited base in parts of the Northern Province — Jaffna and Vavuniya — in Sri Lanka.
Attack against DMK
One of those who had spearheaded the political attack against the DMK was Congress leader P. Chidambaram, according to the materials available with The Hindu Archives. At a press conference a day after the assassination, Mr. Chidambaram, who later became the Union Minister for Finance and Home Affairs, said the Chief Minister owed an apology to the people and to the State legislature for 'persistently misleading them'. Despite repeated warnings by the Opposition parties about LTTE activities in the State, the Chief Minister maintained that there was no camp and no armed activity, Mr. Chidambaram said, demanding Karunanidhi's resignation on moral grounds. Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthy, a bitter critic of the DMK leader, remarked that the State was 'slowly turning into a Punjab or Kashmir.' (Both Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir were suffering from militant activities then). It was another matter that the two Congress leaders, after several years, had no hesitation in becoming Karunanidhi's allies.
Jayalalithaa's take
AIADMK general secretary Jayalailthaa was no less vehement than the Congress leaders in condemning the government. In an interview to The Hindu in July 1990, she called the massacre 'an unpardonable crime'. As Karunanidhi 'is not the type' to own up responsibility, the President should remove him from power, she said.
The politburo of the CPI(M), an ally of the DMK, said Padmanabha represented forces which had taken up the genuine demands of the Tamil minority within the 'framework of a united Sri Lanka'. It said the gruesome murders in the heart of the city indicated the serious danger posed by the LTTE which had been 'allowed to continue its disruptive activities without any check'. BJP vice-president K. Jana Krishnamurthi called the killing 'a slap on the face of the DMK government'. He accused the government of allowing the militants to treat Tamil Nadu as 'an open choultry'.
However, Karunanidhi, who had condemned the killings, rejected the demand for his resignation. Speaking at a meeting in Karur on July 10, he wondered why he should resign. 'For what? In Sri Lanka, Tamils are being killed. If I step down, will that mean that Tamils in Sri Lanka will not be killed?' Karunanidhi said the demand for his resignation was born out of the massacre. 'But, why link the massacre of Padmanabha and the DMK rule and the campaign for my resignation? When 40 passengers were killed in a bomb blast at the Madras airport [in August 1984], did the then Prime Minister [Indira Gandhi] or those in power in Tamil Nadu [the then Chief Minister, M.G. Ramachandran] offer to resign,' he asked.
'Came in disguise'
A few days later, Director-General of Police (DGP) P. Dorai said, 'There is no political fetter of any sort in dealing with the menace posed by the Tamil militants in general and the LTTE in particular.' Since 1976, the people of Tamil Nadu had been watching the 'internecine' feuds among the Tamil militant groups. There had been shoot-outs during 1982, 1984, and 1986, the DGP said, terming 'incorrect' the view that Tamil Nadu would become another Punjab or Jammu and Kashmir. On Karunanidhi's reported remarks that the police would have arranged adequate protection, had Padmanabha informed them of his arrival in the city, the DGP said the EPRLF leader came in disguise by shaving off his beard.
Mr. Thirunavukkarasu remembers the manner in which the authorities and the political parties in India had enabled the funeral to be performed for the slain EPRLF leaders. In a first of its kind, the bodies of the foreign nationals were allowed to be kept near Rajaji Hall on the Government Estate for members of the public to pay homage. The CPI(M)'s moral and emotional support to the EPRLF members at that time is worth remembering, he adds. Within a year, another shocking incident occurred in the State, which was under the President's rule. This time, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed, along with 15 others, including a Superintendent of Police.