With Extreme Prejudice

Since senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj’s statement that the recent serial bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were “a conspiracy to divert attention from the ‘cash-for-votes’ scandal” has been pooh-poohed by all the Reichwing editors, allow me to bat on the other side.

In the year 1985, shortly after Indira Gandhi’s assassination and the Anti-Sikh riots that followed in Delhi, and the widespread knowledge that Mrs Gandhi had “created” Bhindranwale, I arrived in sleepy Pondicherry as a rookie cop.

Bored of life in this crime-free town, I took my trusted Bullet 350 one Saturday morn and drove down to Point Calimere, a wildlife sanctuary at the southern tip of our eastern seaboard, where flamingoes were said to be abundant. I wanted to see the flamingoes.

That night at the FRH, a man knocked on my door and informed me that “The Boss” wanted to see me. It seems they had heard I was a cop.

But I was just a trainee cop on a much-deserved holiday!

Anyway, I was escorted to a room where I had the pleasure of meeting Anton Balasingham of the LTTE – with an Australian woman and a dog, smoking 555 State Express.

He is smoking The State, I thought.

Finding me completely harmless, Anton invited me to see their “facilities” the next morning. So, instead of flamingoes, the next morning I saw the ammo dump, the fuel dump, the rubber dinghies with 4 OBMs fitted on each… and so on.

Point Calimere is the closest point in India from Jaffna.

Even as a rookie cop, my impression of The State was that there were wheels within wheels within wheels. I opted out a few years later – and never looked back.

We must not forget that these “political parties” are known throughout India, by every beat constable, as those who engineer organized violence – like riots.

And since they come to control The State, they have these “dirty tricks departments” like IB and RAW at their disposal.

And if it be admitted that Sushma Swaraj mixes in their midst, her “suspicion of a conspiracy” should be taken seriously. You never know what these rascals can be up to.

It is with this deep suspicion that the press should report on the official investigations into these blasts. They should not get sidelined by Narendra Modi’s photo-ops, the Army being called in, and all the sniffer dogs.

They should probe the official probe – and probe it deeply.