Indicating that lobbyists in Kerala campaigning for the release of Islamist leader Abdul Nasser Madani, 31st accused in the 2008 Bangalore bombings case, from detention have become active again, State Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said that he would take up the issue of “ensuring justice” for Madani with the Karnataka Government.
Talking to mediapersons after receiving a memorandum from leaders of the PDP, of which Madani was still the chairman, seeking Government intervention to ensure bail for the Islamist leader, Chandy said, “It is unjust to keep Madani in jail for such long time without trial.” Madani has been in detention in a Bangalore prison since his arrest on August 17, 2010.
Chandy claimed the Kerala Government had tried to ensure justice for Madani, adding that it would continue the efforts. “I had taken up with Karnataka’s former Government (of the BJP). I will now speak to the present Karnataka CM. Madani also has the rights any other Indian citizen enjoys,” Chandy said.
The Chief Minister said that he could not agree with the indefinite detention of Madani in prison as it was against the spirit of the Constitution. “We had adopted the same position when Madani was in detention in the Coimbatore prison earlier,” Chandy told mediapersons in Thiruvananthapuram.
PDP leaders led by party working chairman Poonthura Siraj met Chandy on Wednesday in the context of last week’s rejection of Madani’s bail plea by the Karnataka High Court and Karnataka Home Minister KJ George’s statement that the new Congress Government’s approach to the issue might not be different from that of the previous BJP regime.
Observers expect both the Congress-led ruling UDF and the CPI(M)-headed Opposition lDF in Kerala to step up their efforts in the coming days to get Madani released from the Parappana Agrahara prison outside Bangalore in the context of the lok Sabha elections where the issue of the Islamist leader’s detention is certainly going to be a major campaign point.
Admitting that the Madani issue was sure to have a huge impact on the general election, a senior Congress leader said, “The party cannot be seen as having two stands in two States in this regard. We don’t pass any comment on the charges against Madani but we must emphasise the point that it is unjust to keep him in jail indefinitely without trial especially when he is seriously ill.”
George’s statement at Kottayam on August 25 had disheartened the pro-Madani lobbyists in Kerala whose hopes of an early release on bail for Madani had earlier been heightened by the enthroning of a Congress Government in Karnataka. George had said that a State’s positions on serious cases could not change in accordance with change in rule.
In fact, the position of the prosecution under the Congress regime in Karnataka towards Madani was more stringent than the one taken by the previous BJP Government. Making its position harsher, the Prosecution had last month termed Madani as a habitual offender with close relationship with extremist groups in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Following this, Madani himself issued a statement alleging that Karnataka had become a police raj where matters were being decided not by the Government but by police officials with communalist bias. Pro-Madani campaigners accused the Congress of taking a harsher anti-minorities position than that of the BJP.
After the Congress came to power in Karnataka, a delegation of the Muslim league had met CM K Siddaramaiah and Home Minister George to request for steps to help Madani, charged under several provisions of the law including the Unlawful Activities Act, to get bail.