July killings in Tamil Nadu blur distinction between personal enmity and political rivalry

Tamil Nadu BSP chief K Armstrong was shot dead July 5. (Courtesy: PTI photo)

July seems to have turned into a month of killings in Tamil Nadu, with a spate of murders of political functionaries of different parties. As most of them belong to parties opposed to the ruling DMK, questions are being raised about the handling of the law and order situation by the Stalin government and the police. Yet, police have maintained, in each case, the killings have been on account of personal enmity and not political rivalry.

Even if the murders are not politically motivated and are because of personal enmity, the fact remains that the state government seems unable to control rowdyism and gang wars, no doubt an embarrassing situation, especially when the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin holds the Home portfolio. It is, therefore, not surprising that the opposition has raised an alarm over the murders.

The spate began with the murder of the state BSP president K Armstrong on July 5 and last weekend saw a spree of three murders of political functionaries.

On Saturday night a BJP district secretary in Sivaganga, Selvakumar, was hacked to death by a gang, when he was returning home from his brick kiln. Police have arrested five persons in this connection. Ruling out any political motive behind the murder, police have claimed that initial investigation indicates personal enmity in a gang war. Selvakumar was an accused in a murder case.

In another incident on Sunday AIADMK Cuddalore ward-councillor (Navaneetham Nagar), Padmanabhan of Tirupapuliyur, was hacked to death in Cuddalore near the Puducherry border as he was travelling on his two-wheeler to Bagur village. He was followed by a gang and hacked to death. Padmanabhan has a murder case among five cases pending against him.

On Sunday morning, a Congress councillor's husband, Jackson, a driver by profession, was killed. Police are looking for a six-member gang.

In fact, a day before (July 4) Armstrong's killing in North Chennai's Perambur, AIADMK worker M Shanmugham was killed in Salem. Among the ten people arrested in this case is a DMK councillor's husband. The police claimed personal enmity is the cause. On July 16, NTK functionary Balasubramaniam was hacked to death in Madurai district, when he was on his morning walk. Police said it was a family dispute.

Following criticism after Armstrong's murder, the Tamil Nadu government changed the Chennai police chief and the Home Secretary. Apparently as a stern warning to the warring gangs, one of the accused in the Armstrong murder was gunned down in an encounter. But soon, NTK's Balasubramaniam was killed, indicating that the emboldened gangs have little fear of the law enforcement authorities.

Most scathing in the criticism of the state government has been the BJP state president K Annamalai who termed Tamil Nadu as the 'capital of murders' since DMK came to power. "Never in history has there been such a dire situation where the police have been turned into a mercenary department, and the people of the entire state have risked their lives for the sake of a single family ... Stalin must introspect whether he has the moral right to continue as Chief Minister," Annamalai stated after Selvakumar’s murder.

Former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan joined in to say, "The state government has to concentrate on law and order. Just changing officials and collectors is not the solution."

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswamy, condemning the murders and attributing them to increased sale of drugs, said: "A total of 595 murders have occurred in the state this year. The state must control the situation by providing full freedom to the police." His party spokesperson Kovai Satyan alleged: "Most of the incidents of breakdown of law and order can be traced back to a DMK functionary or members associated with the DMK, which is why police are clueless how to act against them."

Countering the allegations against the government, state law minister S Raghupathy on Monday said: "If we are responsible for these incidents, we should be blamed. But, we have been taking steps by mapping the enmity between individuals."

The murderers might have had personal motives, but it is clear that they are leveraging connections with the ruling establishment. The distinction between personal enmity and political rivalry is getting increasingly blurred in these gang wars and revenge killings.