’84 panel says probe ministers, Govt sits on report

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government is under pressure from the Left to drop the two ministers on the basis of this recommendation.

This has thwarted the Government’s plan of drafting an ATR that does not go beyond booking murder cases against Congress MP from outer Delhi constituency, Sajjan Kumar, and former MP, Dharam Dass Shastri: both have been indicted by the Nanavati Commission.

The Left has not bought the Government’s line that no action could be taken against Kamal Nath and Tytler as the Commission had only asked for further probe and not recommended that any cases be registered against them straightaway.

Given a choice, the Government would have tried to get away with the claim that, in deference to the Commission’s report submitted on February 9, it probed further into the role of Kamal Nath and Tytler and was satisfied about their innocence.

Its Left allies have, however, ruled out that option arguing that the Government should be prepared to sacrifice those two ministers in order to retain the moral authority to ask for Narendra Modi’s head if and when another Commission headed by Justice Nanavati gives a similar finding on the Gujarat riots.

Another bone of contention on the 1984 carnage is the Government’s bid to attribute the colossal administrative failure entirely to the then Lt Governor of Delhi, P G Gavai, and absolve the higher-ups.

As the six-month statutory deadline for tabling the Commission’s report approaches, Left leaders such as Sitaram Yechuri and Brinda Karat have been publicly demanding action against the guilty in the carnage whose official death toll is 2,733.

Thanks to the dilemma created by the Left, the Government was tightlipped in the Lok Sabha today when the Opposition protested and staged a walkout over the delay in tabling the report.

One legal but politically unviable option available under the Commissions of Inquiry Act is to issue a notification saying that the report shall not be tabled on the ground that it would compromise the security of the state.

Incidentally, the only time any Government ever took refuge in such a claim was in the context of the Thakkar Commission’s report on the conspiracy behind Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

Last year, the Nanavati Commission had issued Section 8B notices to Kamal Nath and Tytler saying that after consideration of evidence, it was prima facie of the opinion that their reputation was likely to be ‘‘prejudicially affected’’ by the findings that might be recorded by it. Both the ministers subsequently gave their defence before the Commission.