New Delhi: Government today dismissed claim
by Purulia arms drop case accused Kim Davy that the 1995
operation was carried out by the "political forces" at the
Centre to destabilise the then Jyoti Basu government of West
Bengal.
High level government sources said Davy's claim is "far
fetched" and a "tactic to complicate" the process of his
extradition from Denmark.
They said there was no need for the Centre to take help
from people like Davy to dismiss an elected dispensation as
there were various other methods available to destabilise.
"The then Central (Congress) government had no intention
to destabilise the Jyoti Basu government by arming people
opposed to it," the sources said.
Davy, prime accused in Purulia arms drop case, claimed on a news
channel that the then PV Narasimha Rao
government had plotted the operation to destablise the West
Bengal government by arming the locals in West Bengal.
He also claimed that India's external intelligence
agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) planned the operation
with the help of its British counterpart MI-5 on directions.
"Of course there were Indians involved. There were
political forces in the Centre... Central government approved
the plan to arm the innocent people (of Purulia). Not only RAW
was informed of the arms drop months in advance by an external
force, but it also approved of it in advance," Davy alleged.
"The Indian authorities knew the flight plan, people
on-board, the cargo, the drop zone. Everything was known and
approved well in advance," he claimed from an undisclosed
location.
Government sources rejected Davy's claim that Indian
agencies were in the know of the Purulia arm, saying it is
"completely false. Otherwise the Central government would not
have approached the Danish government for his extradition."
A lower court in Denmark has ordered the extradition of
Niels Christien Nielsen alias Kim Davy to India following
which he approachaed the higher court in that country,
challenging the lower court order.
Sources said that by making allegations against the
Indian government he wants to complicate the whole issue and
wants to further delay his extradtion to India.
Denmark government wanted India to ensure that Davy
would not be given death sentence if he is extradited, which
was agreed to. Cong accuses Left of inaction in Purulia arms drop case.
Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan sought to put
the Vajpayee government in the dock alleging it had taken the
"most unpatriotic" decision to release another Purulia arms
drop accused Peter Bleach.
"BJP has not explained why it gave Presidential pardon
to Bleach and allowed him to go. BJP has to answer to the
nation why it did not take Bleach's case to the logical
conclusion despite the fact that he had committed treason",
she said.
BJP denied the Congress charge that it had allowed
Bleach to go free when the NDA was in power.
"When were the arms dropped? Narasimha Rao government was
there... As far as Bleach is concerned, he was convicted to
five or seven years in jail. He was released later. This in no
ways explains or justifies that it was collusion between two
intelligence agencies and the Indian government encouraged it
to destabilise a democratically elected government," BJP
spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
"We may have our reservations about the Left government
in West Bengal but how can the government permit collusion
between two intelligence agencies to permit arms drop intended
to destablise a democratically elected government?" he said,
adding "if this claim is true, it is very depressing,
disturbing, and deeply condemnable."
Left parties said the statement by Davy confirmed that
there was "a well-planned conspiracy" in 1995 to use violence
to topple the Left Front government in West Bengal.
CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said "all
investigation at that time showed that this was a conspiracy
which had international ramifications and an internal
dimension. It was a political game to destabilise the Left
Front government ... by many forces..."
"Government should explain why when the British
intelligence informed them and this was confirmed by Peter
Bleach (who was sentenced in the case), no action was taken to
stop it," Karat said.
His colleague Sitaram Yechury said Davy's statement
"completely confirms and vindicates CPI(M)'s assertions over
the past 15 years that the arms drop was planned to
destabilise the duly-elected Left Front government and there
was direct involvement of the Centre in it as was done in the
case of Tripura earlier.
"Chidambaram, who has been accusing the Left, must
answer as to how the then Congress government facilitated,
sanctioned and permitted such a huge arms drop to topple an
elected government," Yechury said.
CPI National Secretary D Raja said the then Congress
government had tried to implement a "nefarious and sinister
design" to topple the Left Front government.
"We demand that the government should order a high-level
inquiry into this," he said.
PTI
Whatever may be the truth behind the controversial case, subsequent governments, indeed, have been guarded about the entire sequence of events, and even a RTI query on the issue was turned down.
Reacting to the development, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat sought an explanation from the Centre.
First Published: Thursday, April 28, 2011, 23:57