Accused of plotting to kill LK Advani, the undertrial
Abdul Nazar Madani was used as a vote-catching tool by both the LDF
and UDF. Post-elections, he had no takers, reports J. Gopikrishnan
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Pawn,
Victim? Madani |
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In the recent poll
campaign, Madani’s photo was more visible than Karl Marx in the LDF posters |
Abdul Nazar Madani,
prime accused in the Coimbatore blasts case, continues to be the magic
wand the state’s rival alliances have been using to lure Muslim
votes in elections and forget once the ballots are counted.
True to this, Chief
Minister VS Achuthanandan has been claiming credit for Madani getting
proper medical treatment in Tamil Nadu. This announcement came after
his recent visit to Chennai when he called upon his counterpart for
the same.
The ruling Left
Democratic Front (LDF) hails it as its achievement. But the Madani issue
was also exploited by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).
And they too, like the LDF, had promised his release, but Madani is
yet to be let out of prison.
Accused in the Coimbatore
serial bomb blasts case on February 14, 1998 that killed 58 people,
Madani has been imprisoned for the past eight years as an undertrial.
The blasts are believed to have targeted BJP leader and then Home Minister
LK Advani. Born in southern Kerala, young Abdul Nazar became a Madani
(a degree conferred by Islamic institutions) after preliminary schooling
in the early 80s. He shot into limelight in 1990 by forming the Islamic
Sevak Sangh (ISS). His communally sensitive speeches marginalised the
Muslim League in Kerala. He was also the victim of a bomb blast near
his party headquarters in 1992 and lost his left leg. His followers
and police allege it was a rss plot, but the Parivar denies the claim.
Soon after the
Babri Masjid demolition, Madani disbanded the ISS and formed the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) to forge a broad Muslim-dalit-backward alliance
and started fielding candidates in elections. His firebrand style captured
Muslim votes.
Madani’s rising
career was watched by two tactful leaders: the Communist patriarch EMS
Namboodiripad and Congress kingmaker K. Karunakaran. Both needed his
help for sidelining the then mighty Muslim League and they used him.
While EMS equated
Madani with Mahatma Gandhi, Karunakaran allegedly prevented the police
from stopping him from his communally sensitive speeches. But the Coimbatore
blasts upset the political manoeuvrings of the two old horses. The Tamil
Nadu police booked Madani for masterminding the blasts, his name disclosed
by an Al Umma activist during interrogation. He confessed that Madani
helped him and a colleague travel to Pakistan via Bangkok for isi training.
USED
AND ABUSED? |
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Madani
shot to fame by establishing the Islamic Sevak Sangh in 1990 |
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His
communally sensitive speeches marginalised the Muslim League
significantly |
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Both
the LDF and UDF used him to gain Muslim votes. Was arrested
during the LDF regime in 1998 |
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Kerala
CM Oommen Chandy sought his parole in 2005, failed. |
| • |
President
received mass petition in his support from legislators |
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Back then, Kerala
was ruled by the LDF and Tamil Nadu by the dmk. A day before the Tamil
Nadu police arrived to arrest Madani, its Kerala counterparts had arrested
him for an inflammatory speech, made six years ago. He was handed over
to the TN police on March 31, 1998.
As the trial wound
on, the main accused Al Umma activists got parole but Madani didn’t.
During the 2001 Assembly elections, the UDF promised Madani’s
early release but failed to actualise it. Similarly, before the 2005
polls, the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy led a delegation to the
then TN cm J. Jayalalithaa to seek his parole. The effort did not yield
any result. Meanwhile, the Kerala Assembly passed a unanimous resolution
for Madani’s fair trial. President APJ Abdul Kalam received a
mass petition from Kerala legislators, when he addressed the Assembly.
Though the LDF government
had turned him in, it was their turn to use his arrest as a poll issue.
And during the campaign, Madani’s photo was preferred over Karl
Marx’s in the LDF election posters.
The verdict in Madani’s
trial is expected by the end of this year. Grossly underweight, 41-year-old
Madani suffers from high blood sugar and blood pressure. The way his
family and followers have conducted his case also spells doubts over
their intentions. Allegations about influx of funds from the Gulf to
meet his legal expenses have also done the rounds. Meanwhile, his wife
filed a habeas corpus, which was rejected. It seems a jailed Madani
may be more valuable for Kerala’s politicians than a free Madani.
