HVK Archives: Al Umma planned to kill Advani
Al Umma planned to kill Advani - The Indian Express
Press Trust of India
()
May 12, 1998
Title: Al Umma planned to kill Advani
Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 12, 1998
The Tamil Nadu government today admitted for the first time that
Al Umma extremists had planned to assassinate BJP leader L K
Advani at a public meeting in Coimbatore on February 14 last and
that three' suicide bombers were present at the site on that day.
Replying to an elaborate discussion on the white paper placed in
the state assembly, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said the several
blasts that took place on that day were primarily an act of
vengeance for the killing of 18 Muslims in November 1997 at
Coimbatore.
The main conspirators had originally planned the planting of
bombs a week after Ramzan, but later changed to Feb 22, in view
of the Lok Sabha elections slated for that day.
However, on learning that Advani, then BJP president, was to
address the meeting there, the date was advanced to February 14,
Karunanidhi said, adding that they also felt that a larger number
of BJP and rss activists could be killed if the bombs went off
during the meeting.
The state government had been maintaining that the bomb blasts
were revenge attacks for the killing of Muslims in communal
violence in November last and were not targeted at Advani. It had
also initially denied the presence of human bombs at the meeting
venue.
Karunanidhi said three Muslim youngsters had been brainwashed in
Chennai and sent to Coimbatore on February 10 by Al Umma
president S A Basha. They were wearing bombs on their waists, but
could not penetrate the security cordon near the dais at the
public meeting venue. Nor could seven others, deputed to hurl
grenades at the dias, carry out their task, as the security was
too tight.
Due to the elaborate security measures, which were of a scale
normally made for a Prime Minister, none of the human bombs
exploded, and there was no blast in the vicinity of the dais, he
said.
Karunanidhi virtually rejected the AIADMK's demand for a CBI
investigation into the serial blasts, when he declared that the
special investigation team of the state police headed by IGP
Paramvir Singh had unearthed the plot and arrested 113 of the 171
identified suspect.
He said Basha, Al Umma general secretary, Mohammed Ansari and
People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Nasser Mahdhani, and
others had plotted in Chennai, Coimbatore and Kerala to plant
bombs at Coimbatore. (Basha and Mahdhani have been arrested,
while Ansari is still at large).
Earlier, members of all parties, except AIADMK and Pattali Makkal
Katchi, welcomed the white paper tabled by the Chief Minister on
April 23 last, and deplored moves to dismiss the DMK regime using
the blasts as a pretext.
Karunanidhi said the conspirators decided to procure explosives
>from Kerala and Karnataka, and responsibilities were apportioned
among various operatives, he said.
Ansari met Karnataka MP Mohammed Ashraff, who agreed to supply
some 10 country-made rifles for the activists, he said, but did
not elaborate on the MP's role.
Later, a Karnataka supplier had provided 625 kg of gelatine
sticks, 1500 electric detonators, 1000 ordinary detonators and 80
metres of fuse wire, he said. At another point in the conspiracy,
an activist by name Siddiq Ali had presented the fist of places
were the bombs were to be placed.
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