The Congress condemned Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s decision to release seven Rajiv Gandhi killers as “perverse” and said no relief should be given to the former Prime Minister’s assassins.
Barely hours after the Tamil Nadu cabinet took the decision, AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, “The Congress condemns unequivocally such irrational decisions by constitutional functionaries.”
He added, “Every state has powers of remission but these powers are to be exercised by constitutional functionaries in the light of rules and regulations and the spirit of any judicial order.” He dubbed the TN decision as “irresponsible, populist and perverse” and warned of a judicial challenge.
AICC general secretary Ajay Maken said the state’s decision “to suit sectarian vested interests” would set a bad precedent for other chief ministers to take unlawful decisions that are politically motivated.
“By doing so, the government of Tamil Nadu has not only denied basic justice to the families of all those who lost their dear ones in the ghastly attack carried out by the convicted assassins but has also shaken the faith of every law-abiding, peace-loving and patriotic Indian who believes in the rule of law,” he said, adding that the release would put a question mark on the national resolve to fight terrorism.
Singhvi said the nation cannot forget that it lost its once constitutional head of the government, Rajiv Gandhi, and 17 citizens in what was a terrorist attack. He also said that many of those who died in the attack were Tamils.
The Congress dissociated itself from finance minister and Tamil Nadu MP P Chidambaram for saying he was “not unhappy” with the decision to release the convicts. “This is his personal view, the Congress party condemns the decision,” he said. Interestingly, the Congress asked why the BJP was silent on the issue when it was baying for the blood of Afzal Guru. Finance minister P Chidambaram said he was “not unhappy” with Tamil Nadu government’s decision to release the convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, a remark that brought sharp rebuke from the Congress.
“I am not unhappy,” Chidambaram said, when asked for his reaction to the state government’s decision. Asked to explain what he meant by “not unhappy”, the finance minister said, “Our grief arises out of the brutal killing of Rajiv Gandhi and if the court says that imprisonment of 22 years is sufficient and leaves it to the executive government to decide, that’s it.”
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