Attack on MK Narayanan Can’t be Ignored as an Isolated Incident

M K Narayanan cannot be held responsible for the decision to send in the IPKF to Sri Lanka, writes RK Raghavan.

That the Sri Lankan Tamil issue is still very much alive – and not dead, as some erroneously think and it needs to be nursed with great care -- is borne by the outrageous attack on former NSA MK Narayanan last evening in the heart of Chennai. MK – as he is popularly known -- was getting off the dais after addressing a meeting on the future of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India.

During his speech on the occasion, Narayanan had pleaded for the government’s financial support for refugees wanting to get back to the island nation, as also an across-the-border citizenship to them. This was an eminently practical proposition, one that highlighted his concern over the plight of the refugees.

It was ironic, therefore, that a member of the audience, reportedly a Sri Lankan Tamil, chose to throw a footwear at him as he was alighting from the stage. The miscreant’s alleged grievance was that Narayanan had played a role in the action against the LTTE in the late 1990s.

Condemnable Incident

I am appalled at the attack against one of our most distinguished civil servants, more than two decades after his retirement. MK has a lot of sympathy for the plight of the average Sri Lankan Tamil. If he should be treated in this manner, there is something wrong somewhere. And certainly this is not the way Tamils of that country could gain greater sympathy from their counterparts in India in future.

Remember that they lost heavily in public support after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. People were willing to forget that ghastly happening, but actions like manhandling a popular senior civil servant and a former governor, could alienate the sympathy.

The moral of the story is that no government official is safe from any madcap in society, who nurses a grouse against a particular government action. Secondly, to attribute a democratic government’s decision to one or more civil servant is preposterous. To believe that Rajiv Gandhi was influenced solely by the civil service ignores the fact that a course of action in such a sensitive matter as the demand for a Tamil Eelam could never be agreed upon without political counsel.

I know it for a fact that there were several political whizkids at the time who favoured the decision to send in the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) into Sri Lanka. Pinning the blame solely on Narayanan will be grossly unfair to him and it borders on the insane. The Chennai incident deserves to be condemned squarely by all across the political and administrative spectrum.

Let me see whether any of those political stalwarts who were part of the briefing team for Rajiv Gandhi will now speak up for Narayanan and condemn the attack without any qualification. I am not very sure they will come out in the open to say that incidents like these will not advance the Sri Lankan Tamil cause.

‘Chennai Incident’ Lessons

• Heckling MK Narayanan certainly not the way Tamils of that country could gain greater sympathy from their counterparts in India
  
• Centre should lose no time to study the fall-out of the unfortunate incident
  
• If need be, we should abandon negotiation with the militant among the Tamils in future
  
• While Narayanan should receive Z-Plus category security, the Tamil Nadu government should address the problem in all seriousness
  

Pacifying the Lankan Tamils

This takes me to the more important subject of how to assuage the wounded feelings of the average Sri Lankan Tamil. I am concerned that the latter is being egged on once more to indulge in misadventure. I hope I am wrong. One can however never say, considering the kind of instability that prevails in the sub-continent and the current preference for violence over peace and negotiated settlement of all political issues.

New Delhi under Prime Minister Modi should no doubt be extremely conscious of the implications of Chennai’s incident.  We have one of the sharpest Tamil minds, Jaishankar, as the Foreign Secretary. He is known for his quick grasp of even the most complicated matter. I am certain he will lose no time to study the fall-out of the unfortunate Chennai happening. We may not negotiate with the militant among the Tamils in the future to carry on with the healing process, if one were needed.

But then the temptation to ignore the attack on Narayanan as an isolated one-time happening will be disastrous. While the latter himself should receive more protection –possibly in the Z-Plus category- the Tamil Nadu government should make an attempt to take care of the refugee’s problem in all seriousness. The LTTE may be nearly extinct.

The attractiveness of its cause has not however suffered a demise. I may be considered paranoid. I however believe I am being realistic, because I have seen so many ups and downs in the state in the matter of Sri Lankan Tamils and their enduring problems.

(The writer is a former CBI Director)