Everybody Loves A Good Convict

Everybody Loves A Good Convict 

Politics after Perarivalan’s freedom will see a  more aggressive Tamil Nadu govt take on Centre on many issues

 Arun.Ram@timesgroup.com

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin doesn’t hug just anyone. But then, AG Perarivalan is not just anyone. Hours after the Supreme Court ordered his release on Wednesday morning, the 50-year-old who spent 31 years in prison after being convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, travelled 200km to meet Stalin. The handshake, almost naturally, gave way to a hug. 

Stalin called him ‘brother’. Perarivalan’s mother Arputhammal, who waged a three-decade battle to get her son back, looked on with moist eyes. For the family, it was an emotional closure. For Stalin, it was a political statement. It was Perarivalan’s first stop in his thanksgiving pilgrimage where Stalin, by today’s protocol, is the prime political deity in Tamil Nadu. 

The free man then paid obeisance to former AIADMK chief ministers Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam. Next in line were PMK founder S Ramadoss, MDMK leader Vaiko and VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan. But why are politicians eagerly waiting for this visitor? For one, the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case – and more so Perarivalan’s struggle for freedom – has been a constant catalyst in Tamil Nadu politics and the state-Centre relationship for three decades. If politics is the art of the impossible, irony is the paintbrush.

 So, Perarivalan’s release has come as a political shot in the arm for DMK 25 years after the Justice MC Jain commission report implicated the party and its leader M Karunanidhi for abetting Rajiv’s killers and LTTE at large. Expressing sympathy for the convicts has been a delicate task for the mainstream parties in Tamil Nadu as the underlying sense of Tamil nationalism posed them a political conundrum: It was too intangible to be made an electoral plank yet not too abstract to be ignored. 

While some parties such as PMK, MDMK, VCK and later NTK that flaunt their Tamil nationalist agenda have been consistently in support of the convicts, the main Dravidian players – DMK and AIADMK – have blown hot and cold over the case to suit the changing political climate. Congress has been the sole exception in this game, but, because of it being an ally of either of the big two, its protests have often been muffled if not muted. Emerging unscathed from the aftermath of the Jain commission’s observations that threatened to shake the IK Gujral government which the DMK was part of, Karunanidhi found his feet. Two years after a TADA court sentenced the Rajiv case convicts to death, he chaired a cabinet meeting that recommended commutation of Nalini’s death sentence.

 J Jayalalithaa, the successor of MGR (who was more sympathetic to LTTE than any other Tamil Nadu politician was), accused Karunanidhi of being anti-national. Less than a decade later, Jayalalithaa softened up and, in 2014, surprised everyone by declaring that she would order the release of all the convicts, whether the Centre gave its consent or not. On the same day, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Perarivalan, Santhan and Murugan.

 Jayalalithaa, however, couldn’t walk the talk as the UPA government moved the Supreme Court and stalled her move. Since then it has been a virtual competition between DMK and AIADMK to take credit for being the redeemer of the Rajiv assassination case convicts. In 2016, the Jayalalithaa government wrote to the Centre advocating the release of the seven convicts, a request that the Centre rejected. Just as the ‘human interest’ campaign for Perarivalan’s release gained momentum, the Edappadi government in 2018 invoked Article 161 of the Constitution and recommended to the governor to release the convicts. 

Perarivalan’s release is  a victory for these AIADMK efforts. Its cabinet recommendation to release the convicts was the basis for the judgment. After much protest over his sitting on the recommendation, the governor forwarded it to the President in January 2021. The Supreme Court’s judgment on Wednesday came down on the governor for not acting on the state cabinet’s advice, adding ammo to the DMK government which has been having a running feud with governor RN Ravi. Soon after meeting Perarivalan, Stalin said his government would take steps for the release of the remaining six convicts in the case. Recollecting that it was his election promise last year, he then sent out a bigger message to a larger audience: 

“This is a victory for the whole of India, state autonomy and federalism . . . the judges have made it clear that the governor cannot interfere in the policies of the state government . . . While the judgment is historic on human rights and humanitarian grounds, it has also established the state’s rights in a majestic manner by the apex court. ” Translation: Expect more on not just the release of the remaining convicts, but the state government’s demands on NEET, NEP and other policies.

 Perarivalan’s newfound freedom may be a reason for political celebration in Tamil Nadu, but let’s not forget that he has been released not for his innocence, but for the systemic delay. The other convicts in the case are sure to seek the same legal recourse, but the outcomes need not be the same. Till the apex court decides on their fate, the politics of Tamil sub-nationalism will have enough fuel for a sputtering run.