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Journalism of Courage
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa has threatened to move the Supreme Court against Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for writing an elegy for LTTE’s political chief S P Tamilselvan who was killed in an aerial bombing in Killinochi in Sri Lanka last Friday.
Karunanidhi’s elegy, praising the LTTE leader was “anti-national” and nothing but “treason”, Jayalalithaa said in a statement. As the Centre, which had not realised the seriousness of the whole issue, was doing nothing about it, and overlooking the whole issue, her party had no other option but to move the Supreme Court, she said.
On Sunday, Karunanidhi had justified his elegy to Tamilselvan saying he had only made a humanitarian gesture towards a fellow Tamil.
Describing Karunanidhi’s tribute a violation of the Constitution, she accused him of “glorifying a member of a banned outfit” and using Government channels to distribute the copies of the elegy to the media houses.
It was “highly condemnable” that a Chief Minister should hail a member of a banned outfit, whose leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was still wanted for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Jayalalithaa said.
“There can’t be two different views that Karunanidhi’s action in expressing condolence on behalf of the Tamil Nadu Government is anti-constitutional and amounts to treason,” Jayalalithaa said in her statement on Tuesday, adding that a person who openly supported a proscribed terrorist outfit cannot continue as a Chief Minister.
As for Karunanidhi’s contention that MDMK chief Vaiko, an ally of the AIADMK, had also condoled the death of Tamilselvan, Jayalalithaa pointed out that Vaiko had neither taken the oath of office, as per the Indian Constitution, nor was he holding any official post.
Jayalalithaa wondered why Karunanidhi had not expressed condolence when his former Cabinet colleague T Kiruttinan was murdered (a case which has been transferred to Andhra Pradesh and in which Karunanidhi’s son, M K Azhagiri is a prime accused) and when three employees of the Tamil daily Dinakaran were killed when Azhagiri supporters resorted to arson and vandalism in Madurai following a poll survey published in the newspaper? “Weren’t they Tamils? Is LTTE leader Tamilselvan the only Tamil?” she asked
Accusing Karunanidhi of attempting to divert the issue by talking about “Tamil blood and Tamil spirit”, she said he was worried he might lose his Government due to “anti-national” activities, she said.
