Political figures from tamil Nadu, such as Seeman and Thol Thirumavalavan, have praised Kovai Basha, the infamous terrorist who carried out the coimbatore bombings in 1998. Kovai Basha passed away a few days ago from old age. Who was he? Did he make a contribution to society? Did he make any scientific contributions? Learning? What does he claim to be famous for?
He was imprisoned for killing innocent people in the name of religion and was a convicted terrorist. A generation of his coreligionists were led astray by this bigot to commit acts of terror against ideas that he found objectionable. Let's take a brief look at his background and rise to fame. Basha worked at Ukkadam, coimbatore, as a firewood commission agent. He became a real estate entrepreneur and expanded into real estate brokerage. In the late 1980s, Wahabi Islam's influence grew. The former madurai District (Madurai, Ramnad, Tirunelveli) served as its original center before gradually branching out into Coimbatore.
Basha quickly rose to prominence as Coimbatore's ringleader. He committed one of his earliest acts of terror in 1983 when he used a machete to waylaid assault bjp leaders who were in a car. Jana Krishnamurthy, Thirukovilur Sundaram, T. R. Gopalan, and Narayan Rao were all viciously assaulted by Basha.
At the madurai Railway Station in 1987, Basha viciously attacked the late Hindu Munnani leader Rama Gopalan. A month before Gopalji's incredible recovery began, he was in a coma due to a vicious attack. This strike shattered his head into bits. How such a horrible terrorist was allowed to roam the streets is a mystery. How could he elude punishment and carry on committing acts of terror?
He flung open challenges, emboldened that the arms of law were keeping him at bay. He began issuing fatwas against opponents in 1989. arjun Sampath and Veera Ganesh were among the five Hindu activists he condemned with a fatwa. Veera Ganesh was killed with brutality.
Because Basha's terror actions were so obvious, he and his group looted the office of C. T. Dhandapani, the DMK mla for coimbatore West. He met with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which is the cause. He bullied or suppressed anyone he believed to be opposing his viewpoint.
The RSS headquarters in chennai was the scene of a fatal RDX explosion in 1993. Eleven individuals died as a consequence, while seven others suffered horrific injuries. Jihadi terror was the root reason, and Basha was connected to the terrorists. Kottai Ameer, a Muslim activist who was fighting against Jihadi activities, was then brutally murdered. Then, in 1997, the young traffic constable Selvaraj was murdered. He stopped a bike for triple riding and demanded their documents, which was his responsibility. Many of us may recall the police department's strike in protest of their colleague's murder, which is very odd in and of itself.
Twenty people were killed in the ensuing unrest during a police strike, yet this did not prompt the long arm of justice to take strong action against Basha.
The coimbatore serial bombings in 1998 followed. The target of this act of terror was L. K. Advani, a bjp leader who was in coimbatore for some political gatherings. The Jihadi terrorists were so ruthless that they planned a bombing at the government hospital to target the victims and family members of the explosions in other places who would later be taken to the hospital. Twelve explosions occurred around the city in six hours, leaving more than 200 people injured and 58 dead.
Al Umma, the terrorist group Basha led, was outlawed following this horrific Jihadi attack. He was taken into custody and charged along with his companions. Other members of Basha's family were also taken into custody. The government apparatus was indicted by the Justice Gokulakrishnan Commission, which was established to look into the bombings, for failing to perform its tasks as required and for lacking oversight and balances. Many of us recall that Annamalai, the leader of the tamil Nadu bjp, essentially said the same thing in 2023 regarding the recent "gas cylinder" explosions in Coimbatore.
Thus, this Basha has been praised by the leaders of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a party recognized by the electoral commission. Thol Thirumavalavan, the party's leader and an elected Member of Parliament, went one step farther and wrote a eulogy, essentially accusing the government of putting Basha behind bars. Seeman, a fellow politician and the leader of the Naam Tamilar Katchi, called Basha his father and paid homage to this new father—a man convicted of terrorist acts—using his trademark cinematic speech. The tamil Nadu government even approved a large public parade to transport Basha's bones for burial.