On November 8, Tamil Nadu’s Finance Minister P Thiagarajan downplayed the Coimbatore blast during an interview with India Today. He refused to call it a terror attack stating National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigation is underway in the matter, and he cannot comment without getting a report from them. His remarks came at a time when ISIS literature and other incrementing material have already been recovered from Jamesha Mubin, the 29-year-old accused who died in the cylinder blast.
During the 44-minute long interview, Akshita Nandgopal, Associate Editor and Anchor for India Today questioned Thiagarajan about the recent cylinder blast that happened in Coimbatore. She pointed out that during an investment summit in Karnataka, it was reported that the state might lose out on investments because of the communal incidents that happened over time. She compared it with the recent blast in Coimbatore and asked about his views.
‘Coimbatore had a much worse series of events’
Thiagarajan reminded Nandgopal about the past series of “much worse” incidents. He said, “One blast is not the basis for anything, and maybe you are relatively young, but you may not remember that Coimbatore had a much worse series of events than this in the past. So I think this particular blast, I would venture to say that Coimbatore is probably the second Hub in Tamil Nadu after Chennai and will continue to be that way. I am on the ground. I am responsible for administration. I am saying that it will continue to show results and deliver jobs and grow faster than almost any place in India. One blast notwithstanding or the politicisation of one, you know, was not even a blast it was a cylinder and a car going off in the middle of multiple attempts at other things.”
Minister refused to consider it a terror act
When asked if he maintained it was a cylinder blast, he said, “The record shows it was a cylinder in a car there is a video of the cylinders being loaded there are the people who are doing it. They have been arrested. The case has been transferred to the NIA. Some facts are not in question. The facts are not interpretable by political parties because they feel like it. Facts are facts. After that, you can interpret the consequences, the implications, the history, the future and all that, but facts are facts. You got to interpret facts if there is video evidence of the cylinder being loaded in the car and then that car being exploded. I do not understand why you assume that every party can have a different view of that fact.”
When asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party state chief K Annamalai stated that it was a terror attack, and Thiagarajan refused to answer the allegations. He was further asked about DMK not taking the blast seriously. He said, “There is no question of the DMK doing anything or not doing anything. This is not a political issue. [The question is if] a government has to take it seriously or not seriously. A government took it seriously and transferred it to NIA before they asked.”
Nandgopal questioned why there were alleged attempts to downplay the possible terror angle by calling it a cylinder blast. Thiagarajan lashed out at the anchor and said her information could not be superior to the state. He said, “Your information cannot be of superior quality than the government of Tamil Nadu receives. I do not think you have your own intelligence Department. Whatever the police have done has been done because the administration runs the police. So I am not sure why you believe you have any inside information beyond what the government says.”
‘Are you trying to add oil to the fire?’ Minister lashed at the anchor
He further questioned the anchor if she was trying to add oil to the fire. The anchor had asked him if there was an intelligence failure as the whole incident looked like “sheer luck” that the blast happened and police came to know about what had been cooking in the state. Thiagarajan did not like it being called “sheer luck”. He said, “I do not understand why that is luck. They plan to ignite a cylinder. Their cylinder ignites. Why do you assume there’s luck? I do not understand. I do not speculate on things I do not know, and that distinguishes me from you. I do not make assumptions about what it was or what it was not. It was an incident that is under investigation by the NIA. The NIA is not controlled by the government of Tamil Nadu. The NIA will give a report based on that we can have a conversation.”
When asked if, based on the available information, the Tamil Nadu government would call it a terror attack or not, Thiagarajan evaded the point. He said the investigation is under NIA, and they cannot do anything until the NIA returns and gives them information. “What is it that you want us to do? How can we? What is the point of giving the investigation to the NIA if we are going to run a parallel decision-making setup,” he said.
‘I do not take rabble rousers seriously’
When asked that BJP said they demanded that the investigation be given to NIA, Thiagarajan asked to show any document that said NIA approached them to take over the investigation. He said the state government handed over the investigation to NIA before any such request came. He also refused to comment on the allegations raised by BJP that the state government was trying to save a particular community. He said, “I do not take rabble Rouses seriously. I do not think instigators seriously. I take reasonable human beings seriously. I do not consider the individual [referring to Annamalai] you mentioned as one of them.”
Coimbatore Blast
On October 22, Jamesha Mubin was caught on CCTV loading a large object (LPG cylinder) wrapped in a white bag onto his Maruti 800 car. It was around 11:25 pm. Mubin was accompanied by three other men, namely, Mohammad Riyaz, Feroz Ismail, and Mohammad Navaz Ismail.
At around 4 am on October 23 night, the car carrying Jamesha Mubin exploded mid-journey in the Ukkadam area of Coimbatore. The incident took place adjacent to the Kottai Easwaran Temple.
Preliminary investigation revealed that one of the two commercial cylinders onboard the car had exploded while the other remained intact. As per reports, the remains of Mubin’s body were unrecognisable.
A total of 6 people, namely, Mohammad Thalka, Mohammad Azarudheen, Riyaz, Nawaz, Afsar Khan and Feroz, were arrested in connection to the case. It also came to light that the NIA interrogated Mubin in 2019 regarding the Easter bomb blasts.
It later came to light that Jamesha Mubin was motivated by the Islamic State and engaged in preparing for jihad. Reportedly, he was on a suicide mission to destroy a large area, including a Hindu temple using his car bomb.
On October 27, the case was transferred to the NIA by the Centre, following the recommendation of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. An official said, “The Union home ministry decided to hand over the Coimbatore blast case to the NIA.”
