AFZAL GURU SILENCES CONGRESS ON MEMON

NEW DELHI: The Congress party that is trying to occupy the post of the principled opposition to the Bharatiya Janata party led government at the centre by intervening on almost all issues---from land acquisition to corruption---was first silent in the initial days of the debate raging around the hanging of Yakub Memon, and then quietly welcomed the execution.

Except for two individual leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar who signed a petition to the President asking for mercy for Memon, and Shashi Tharoor who took a more nuanced approach in opposing death penalty, the Congress leaders were silent through it all, with the party finally coming out to support the execution without making too much of a fuss about it. Almost as if it hoped that this would go unnoticed.

The reason is not far to seek. The Congress led UPA government did not distinguish itself in the ten years of its rule on most issues associated with communal harmony. Its state governments in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, in fact, started singling out the minorities and arresting individuals----many of them found to be innocent by the courts ---for terror attacks. There was widespread trauma and fear in both the states under Congress governments as well, with Maharashtra actually moving in towards divisive profiling at the time.

Three executions of 1301 death sentences have taken place in the last one decade. Memon;s is the fourth.Interestingly, the first was under the Left Front government in West Bengal in 2004 with the CPI(M) subsequently revising its position to oppose death penalty. In fact the CPI(M) has been in the forefront opposing the Yakub Memon hanging, with senior leaders signing a petition to the President of India against the death penalty. Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged at Alipore Central jail on his 42nd birthday, August 14, 2004 for the brutal rape and murder of a teenage girl.

The Congress government remains committed to the death penalty with two executions to its credit in as many years. The terrorist who survived the Mumbai terror attack Mohammed Amal Amir Kasab was executed in Pune’s Yerwada jail on November 21, 2012.

And then came the infamous case, under the UPA government that really set a new trend insofar as executions were concerned, and was widely recognised as a travesty of justice wherein laws, norms and conventions were flouted. Guru was one of the accused in the Parliament attack terror case, and his long trial raised serious questions of human rights commented on and criticised by leading commentators in India at the time. Protests were held, meetings organised, and articles written by campaigners, many of whom believed Guru to be innocent and others who were disturbed about the loopholes in the investigation and the trial.

In 2005, his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court of India following which his wife filed a mercy petition before the President of India. On February 3 2013, his mercy petition was rejected by President Mukherjee, and within six days Guru was secretly executed in Tihar jail in New Delhi. At 8 a.m. on February 9,2013 to be precise. His family was not informed, and when confronted with a storm of protest the government claimed that a letter had been sent to them speed post. The letter, amidst reports that it was sent later, arrived at the Sopore address in Kashmir after the execution. His body was not given to the family, with the demand for his mortal remains being revived again in Kashmir now after Memon’s execution.

Every law was flouted by the UPA government in the process. The rule set by the Supreme Court itself in a previous judgement, and by jail manuals, giving the convict seven to 14 days between the rejection of the mercy petition and the execution, was not observed. Guru was executed within six days of the rejection.

The right of the convict to make a last wish was denied him. He wrote a quick letter to his family before the execution where he said that he had not been given the time to write a longer letter. "I am about to be hanged. Now, near the gallows, I want to tell you (family members) that I was not given enough time to write a detailed letter. I am thankful that Allah (God) chose me for this sacrifice. And please, take care of Tabasum and Galib,” Guru wrote.

The family was not given his mortal remains. Guru’s death sparked off outrage, not in just Jammu and Kashmir, but across India and the world. The Ministry of Home Affairs, then under Minister P.Chidambaram dug in its heels, and along with J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah clamped down on protests in the Valley with increased security measures, and preventive arrests. ‘Operation Three Star’ as Gurus’ execution had been codenamed was declared ‘successful.’

The Congress party leadership remained silent through it all with a brief news item that was not seen again in detail declaring its support for Memon’s execution. Mani Shankar Aiyar and then Shashi Tharoor were articulate against the death penalty. But there was also Digvijay Singh with a view closer to the official party line, “Yakub Memon hanged. Exemplary urgency and commitment has been shown by government and judiciary in punishing an accused of terror. I have my doubts the way the cases of other terror accused are being conducted. Let’s see. Credibility of the government and judiciary is at stake.I hope similar commitment of government and judiciary would be shown in all cases of terror irrespective of their caste, creed and religion.”

The Left has firmed its position since 2004, and is now as clear about its opposition to the death sentence as it has been to the dismissal of state governments by the centre. The Congress,however, continues to maintain the position outlined by Singh with the top brass of the party Sonia and Rahul Gandhi taking care to remain out of the Yakub Memon debate. In fact, the latter emerged only after the execution to visit the FTII students on strike in Pune.