The hanging of convicted terrorist Ajmal Kasab at Pune’s Yerwada prison early Wednesday is a political masterstroke by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that was under fire over indecision and brazen cases of corruption.
The secret hanging of 25-year-old Kasab, who was sentenced to death for his role in the November 26, 2008, terror attacks in Mumbai, came just days after President Pranab Mukherjee, a former Congress leader, rejected his mercy petition on the advice of the federal Home Ministry. Mukherjee is still sitting on mercy petitions from 16 other convicts sentenced to death in 11 unrelated cases.
Kasab’s mercy petition, submitted after Mukherjee became president in July, is the first dismissed by him. Kasab, who India said was a Pakistani national, was one of the 10 terrorists who came on a hijacked boat and attacked targets across Mumbai. A total of 166 people were killed and many others were injured. Only Kasab was caught alive in the three-day siege that stunned the nation and raised serious questions over the country’s security apparatus.
His death sentence was confirmed in August by India’s Supreme Court. Announcing the verdict, Justices Aftab Alam and C.K. Prasad had said: “Kasab did not show remorse and considered himself as a hero and a patriotic Pakistani at war. He had no feeling of pity and killed without the slightest twinge of conscience and the gallows remained the only punishment for him”.
The secret execution and his swift burial in the same Pune prison may look like a routine closure of a judicial trial. The governments in Maharashtra and New Delhi — both led by Congress — strictly followed the jail manual in carrying out the execution. Kasab was informed four days ago that he would be hanged on the morning of November 21.
New Delhi also intimated the Pakistani government and sent two letters — one by courier that was not received and another by fax. The Pakistani government declined to accept Kasab’s body saying he was not a Pakistani national, a line maintained by Islamabad since the attacks.
Despite a seemingly routine handling of the execution, the political motives of the federal government are hard to ignore. Here is why I think Kasab’s hanging is a well-timed political move:
n President Mukherjee is sitting over mercy petitions of 16 other convicts sentenced to death long before Kasab was found guilty in the Mumbai terror case. They include Afzal Guru, who was found guilty of attacking Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2004. He was to be hanged on October 20, 2006, but the execution was stayed after his wife sought mercy.
The same Home Ministry on whose advice Mukherjee rejected Kasab’s mercy petition, had last year recommended that Guru be hanged. The President’s Office is yet to clear Guru’s file. The government is yet to explain why it fast-tracked Kasab’s case while sitting on other mercy petitions. Mukherjee rejected Kasab’s plea on November 5 and the hanging took place just 16 days later.
1. The hanging was carried out exactly a week before the fourth anniversary of the Mumbai attacks, an emotional surcharged occasion for the entire nation, especially the family members of those killed by the terrorists. The hanging brings a sense of closure for them and for the restless nation that was getting increasingly frustrated over the government’s perceived weakness in taking tough decisions.
The Congress party can now take full credit for executing a marauding terrorist and fulfilling the wishes of Indians who sarcastically suggested mosquitoes who inflicted dengue pain on Kasab be rewarded as the government was busy feeding him biryani in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail.
2. The execution was carried out just a day before the start of the winter session of Parliament where the opposition is planning to bring a no-confidence motion against the government on the issue of Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector. The hanging can be seen as an attempt by the government to rob the opposition of a chance to put it on the mat.
The hanging satisfies the collective conscience of Indians and his death will dominate the national narrative for the next few weeks, or at least till the fourth anniversary of Mumbai attacks on November 26.
3. The execution was carried out just two days after the cremation of firebrand Hindutva leader Bala Saheb Thackeray, a strong votary of Kasab’s execution. The widow of Mumbai police hero Hemant Karkare, killed by Kasab’s fellow terrorists, had demanded that Kasab be given a chance to reform himself and should be let off on humanitarian grounds. Thackeray had angrily rejected her suggestion and demanded a swift execution. The Congress government’s decision to hang him can be seen as a clever ploy to silence such critics.
4. The execution comes weeks before the high-stake elections in Gujarat that goes to polls early next month. Gujarat Chief Minister and Hindutva mascot Narendra Modi is widely expected to win a third time and catapult himself to the central stage in New Delhi. Modi is seen by a large number of Indians as the only leader capable of taking a tough line on issues of national security.
By hanging Kasab, the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress has sent out a signal that it is capable of taking tough decisions — on national security as well as on the economic front. India doesn’t need a Modi to defend its honour, the Congress might well argue.
5. The Congress-led governments in New Delhi and in Mumbai have shown remarkable political deftness in recent days.
In Mumbai, it accorded the honour of a state funeral to Thackeray, a known violator of the Indian Constitution. The state funeral achieved two objectives: appeased the Hindutva constituency and ensured a peaceful funeral for Thackeray who lorded over an army of rowdy Shiv Sainiks.
Yesterday, by executing a terrorist, it fulfilled a long-pending wish of both the Hindutva and non-Hindutva constituencies.
