Chennai, Sep 9 (IANS) Supported by a section of the Congress Party, the relatives of those who died in the 1991 blast at Sriperumbudur, which killed former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, staged a hunger strike here Friday to demand early execution of the three assassination conspirators on death row.


They were to be executed Sep 9, after the President Pratibha Patil rejected their mercy petitions, but Aug 30 the Madras High Court stayed for eight weeks the hanging of Murugan alias Sriharan, T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A.G. Perarivalan alias Arivu.

“All these days we were silent on the issue, but when a demand for showing leniency is being made, we have a right to express our feelings." M. Mohan said. His father, Congressman Munnuswamy, was also killed in the blast.

Soon after the clemency petition was rejected, Tamil organisations started demanding a stay. The three condemned prisoners filed a case in the high court. A resolution passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly Aug 30 urged the president to commute the sentences to life imprisonment.

According to the state Congress party, which supported the fast, more than 1,000 people participated. Congress leaders like E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Kumari Ananthan and several members of the youth wing were present in the protest.

“Instead of taking a parochial stand, one needs to look at terrorism holistically and take effective measures," Elangovan told IANS. I would urge Tamil Nadu Chief Minsiter J. Jayalalithaa to withdraw the assembly resolution.”

At the hunger strike venue, Elangovan expressed surprise at Jayalalithaa moving such a resolution after declaring the previous day that the chief minister did not the power to commute death sentences.

While it was the State Youth Congress led by M. Yuvaraja that came out openly against the Tamil Nadu resolution early this week, Friday’s protest saw the participation of senior leaders as well.

According to Yuvaraja, the youth wing will deliberate on the next course of action. Referring to the recent bomb blast in New Delhi, he said stern action should be taken against terrorists.

A woman suicide bomber named Dhanu blew herself up, killing Gandhi, prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989, at an election rally in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai May 21, 1991.

In 1998, the 26 accused in the case were sentenced to die by a special trial court. In 1999, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences of the three and woman named Nalini, who had assisted the killer squad. The capital punishment of the others was reduced to varying terms of imprisonment.

The death sentence of Nalini - Murugan's wife who became a mother in prison - was commuted to life imprisonment after her mercy petition was accepted. The petition had the recommendation of Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's widow.