Exemplary punishment should be given to extremists and their supporters and clemency to the three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case would trigger appeals on behalf of other extremists from different parts of the country, said S. S. Prakasam, chairman, Rajiv Jyothi Sadbhavana Yatra Committee, here.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Mr. Prakasam said that exemplary punishment should ensure that an incident similar to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi did not occur anywhere in the country. India, he felt, need not show any mercy on extremists and their supporters and, at the same time, there was no need to politicise the death sentence passed on those convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The Congress leader from Karnataka claimed that there was no support for the clemency call in other States and it was only in Tamil Nadu that the issue got politicised.
While hailing the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, as being consistent in her opposition to extremism, Mr. Prakasam, however, described as “unfortunate” the resolution passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly seeking commutation of death sentence for Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan. His organisation would hold a fast in Bangalore on September 5 against extremism.
He would also meet the President to make a request not to grant clemency to the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi case.
