A new goddess has risen on the political horizon, taking on terror irrespective of colour. For admirers, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is the new Durga, out to crush terrorism in any form, be it the spillover of Sri Lankan Tamil militancy in the past or the home grown variety of different shades.
On October 5, a day after ‘Police’ Fakrudeen, a wanted terror suspect of fundamentalist group Al Umma was nabbed in the city, the TN Police along with their Andhra Pradesh counterparts launched an operation at sleepy Putur on the inter-state border. The more than 10-hour-long encounter resulted in the arrest of two of Fakrudeen associates—Bilal Malik and Panna Ismail. All three were wanted in about half-a-dozen major crimes including planting pipe bombs targeting BJP leader L K Advani and the recent blast outside Bangalore BJP office. The cops have now intensified the search for another fugitive, Abubucker Siddique, who has been trained by the ISI.
While most state governments are wary of proceeding against Islamic fundamentalists, apparently for fear of inviting Muslim backlash in the coming LS poll, Jayalalithaa has proved to be different. Though, she does not make terrorism a main plank, there is no slackening on the part of the state police, who are on a hot pursuit. Jaya ordered the setting up of a special investigation division to pursue the matter. In a rare gesture, she visited the injured police inspector Lakshmanan, the first to enter into the hideout at Puttur in the guise of a milk man, at the hospital bed and appreciated his valour and dedication to duty. The chief minister also ordered
accelerated promotion to the cops engaged in the operation besides cash reward of Rs 5 lakh each. For Lakshmanan it was Rs 15 lakh besides the government bearing the medical expenses.
The AIADMK supremo has never been soft on extremist elements. The recent arrest comes at a time when Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde chose to send a missive to all chief ministers not to target innocent Muslim youth.
However, it should not be forgotten that the anti-terror rhetoric in Tamil Nadu has been sanitized to a large extent and hence it is never part of mainstream political discourse. Even the terminology being employed is ‘extremists’, decommunalising terror. Thus, Jayalalithaa too takes pride in defanging it of communal overtones.
Tamil Nadu has witnessed bouts of terrorist activities and the most significant one being the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts. Prior to that, there were excesses of Sri Lankan Tamil militants, culminating in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. On both the occasions, she was not in power. Her determination in taking on the Sri Lankan Tamil militants who were having a free run before she assumed office is well known. Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination was preceded by the gruesome massacre of 13 leaders of the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Front (EPRLF) in Chennai. After dethroning the DMK from power in 1991, Jayalalithaa moved the resolution in the Assembly to ban the LTTE. Her stance towards the Sri Lankan Tamil issue changed only after the LTTE was decimated in the 2009 war in the island nation.
All along, she has given great thrust to modernise the police. For the first time in country, Jaya formed the Coastal Security Group in 1994 with the objective of preventing the smuggling of fuel, medicines and other essential commodities by sea along the porous 1,076 km coastline, intrusion of militants into Tamil Nadu and collusion with armed foreign militants etc.
Despite opposing the National Counter Terrorism Centre, she has not been slack in dealing with national security. Tamil Nadu had only 12 marine police stations in 13 coastal districts and recently, 30 more have been sanctioned for efficient gathering of intelligence inputs.
“The farmers who wield the plough are the ones who supply the men for the fighting forces,” Jayalalithaa had said, quoting a Tamil proverb, implying that without the support of strong state governments there can never be a victory in the fight against terrorism.