Jihad in Tamil Nadu serious problem but curable: Swamy

The situation arising out of the propaganda and nefarious activities of jihadists in Tamil Nadu is grim but curable, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union minister Subramanian Swamy said here on Thursday. He was delivering a talk on ‘Contemporary Tamil Nadu Politics’ in New Delhi, which was organized by the Tamil Cultural Forum to celebrate the Tamil New Year.

Swamy narrated a similar situation in the state in 1991 when it was massively infiltrated by the LTTE in collusion with the M. Karunanidhi government. The Chandra Shekhar government at the Centre summoned Karunanidhi and informed him of the extent and depth of infiltration by the LTTE and its resolve to liquidate the threat, said Swamy, who was in the Shekhar Cabinet. “Karunanidhi went back and told them everything that transpired in New Delhi.”

The Centre decided to dismiss the Karunanidhi government.

Swamy went to Chennai, called the Director General of Police, informed him about the imminent dismissal, and strictly directed him to ensure that there was no violence, no buses burnt subsequent in the aftermath. The officer submitted that police would have to use force. “I wrote on a chit of paper, which may be somewhere in archives, that he may kill up to 5,000 people. For more, he would have to come to me,” Swamy said, adding that not even a bicycle, let alone buses, was burnt.

Earlier, a representative of Hindu Munnani made a presentation about the systematic control that Muslims were acquiring over certain areas like railway canteens and fishing trade. He showed the trailer of six-hour documentary and also narrated several incidents about the clout and terror radical Muslims have gained: a group of police women get molested, and this results in no action against the molesters, even as the police women seek transfer elsewhere; a Muslim woman is caught shoplifting, but action against her is presented as an attempt to malign the minority community; 126 Hindus facing police charges for the ‘crime’ of speaking up against jihadist activities.

Speaking on the occasion, Maj Gen (Retd) G.D. Bakshi said that India is under threat from everywhere—land, sea, north, south, east. “It’s a concerted attack.”

Recalling the recent JNU incident, he said that there is also an information war, with anti-national groups like Maoists and jihadists ganging up against India. Favoring assertive national defence and slamming “defensive defence,” he asked, “How many fences can you build?”

Another security expert, Col R.S.N. Singh (Retd) said that, ever since it came into being, Pakistan has never been in such turmoil as it is now. He also pointed out that though China has sparingly used its veto power, mostly it has been used to help Pakistani jihadists.