Politics
SA Basha Should Be Remembered For What He Truly Was—A Terrorist Who Devastated Coimbatore
- Basha’s violent rise in the 1980s was marked by brutal attacks on BJP and Hindu Munnani leaders.
S A Basha, a convicted terrorist, who died recently, is being venerated by some as a community leader
SA Basha, the mastermind of the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts and founder of the radical Islamist group Al Ummah, passed away on 16 December.
The day after his death, a public funeral procession was conducted for Basha. Over a thousand police personnel were deployed along the five-kilometre stretch to ensure security.
An appeal by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and outfits connected to them, like the Hindu Munnani, to not allow such a procession— as it would be akin to glorifying a terrorist—fell on deaf ears. The BJP and allied organizations have announced that they will observe 20 December as a ‘Black Day’ to protest against this decision of the police and the state government.
Be that as it may, what is important is that people do not forget who Basha really was, because there are now efforts to portray him as a ‘Muslim leader’—someone who stood up for his community, with Naam Tamilar Katchi leader Seeman being the latest to join the fray.
14 February 1998: A Dark Day In Coimbatore’s History
To understand why Basha’s public funeral was opposed so strongly, it is crucial to revisit the tragic events of 14 February 1998. The serial blasts orchestrated by Al Ummah targeted L K Advani and devastated Coimbatore, killing 58 people and injuring over 200. Bombs planted in vehicles, motorbikes, and other improvised devices demonstrated the sinister intent and organizational capability of Basha’s group.
This was not the first act of violence masterminded by Basha. His trail of terror stretches back to the early 1980s. Before delving into those events, it is important to understand how Basha rose to prominence and became one of southern India’s most infamous terrorists, along with Ahmed Ali (also known as ‘Palani Baba’) and Abdul Nazer Madani.
How Basha Became A Terrorist
Basha, who hailed from Coimbatore’s Ukkadam, an area with a high Muslim population, was a firewood commission agent and a house broker who later entered the real estate business. In the 1980s, he got close to Bilal Aliyar, a local Muslim leader.
Speaking about the origin of religious polarization in the city, Omampuliyur Jayaraman, a BJP functionary from Chennai who has worked closely with the victims of the 1998 Coimbatore blasts, said:
“Those were the days when Muslim fundamentalists utilized the platform provided by the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) to make hateful comments about Hindu Gods and Goddesses. All banners would be of the DK, but behind the scenes, it was radical Muslims who were organizing everything.
“There were other issues too—in areas like Ukkadam, Town Hall, etc., where Muslims were in sizable numbers, they would object to Hindu temple processions passing through what they considered to be ‘their area.’”
Speaking further, Jayaraman said, “This naturally upset the Hindus, who had only recently begun organizing themselves after the 1981 Meenakshipuram conversions and the 1982 Mandaikadu incident. Among the outfits set up around this time was the Hindu Munnani, under the leadership of the charismatic Rama Gopalan, who hailed from Kanyakumari district. They questioned the slander of Hindu deities by Muslim fundamentalists and Dravidian politicians.”
“This challenge was not acceptable to the radical Islamic outfits. They did not tolerate opposing views and wanted to eliminate anyone who opposed them.”
Basha and Aliyar were also among them.
Attacks On Prominent BJP And Hindu Munnani Leaders
Basha’s violent streak became evident in 1983 when he personally led an attack on BJP leaders in Coimbatore.
Recalling the incident, BJP state secretary SG Suryah, whose grandfather Tirukovilur Sundaram was one of the victims, writes, “On June 11, 1983, after a public meeting in R.S. Puram, Coimbatore, his car was ambushed by none other than Basha himself.
One by one, my grandfather and other BJP leaders, including Jana Krishnamurthy, T.R. Gopalan, and Narayan Rao, were pulled out and brutally attacked with machetes.
In 1987, Basha attempted to assassinate Rama Gopalan at Madurai railway station. Although Gopalan survived, he was in a coma for a month and required a metal plate to replace a portion of his skull.
By 1989, Basha and Aliyar had escalated their activities, issuing a fatwa against five RSS members, including Arjun Sampath (now leader of Indu Makkal Katchi) and Veera Ganesh. Ganesh was brutally murdered in August that year, marking a turning point in their campaign of terror.
“Their intolerance was evident,” Jayaraman says. “Anyone organizing Hindus or associated with the BJP, RSS, or Hindu Munnani was seen as a threat to be eliminated.”
“Another example of their reluctance to accept anything to do with the Sangh was the ransacking of the office of the DMK MLA C.T. Dhandapani, just because he had met Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his visit to the state.”
Basha Takes Control
Aliyar’s arrest in connection with the murder of Ganesh was a pivotal moment, says Jayaraman. “Since then, Aliyar became silent, and the machinery was taken over by Basha.”
In 1993, a year after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, a bomb exploded at the headquarters of the RSS in Chennai. Eleven people died, and seven were injured in the attack. Basha’s associate, Imam Ali, was one of the main accused.
This was followed by the killing of Kottai Ameer, a Muslim who opposed the activities of Al Ummah, and traffic constable Selvaraj.
The killing of Selvaraj, just because Al Ummah activists had been detained by Sub Inspector M. Chandrasekaran for driving a motorcycle without a license, angered the police, and they went on strike the following day.
In the violence that ensued, 18 Muslims and 2 Hindus lost their lives.
Basha exploited this unrest to galvanize sympathy and raise funds abroad. The next year, Al Ummah carried out the deadly serial blasts.
What Made People Join Basha?
“Basha was no religious scholar or community leader. He was a terrorist who used religion as a means to further his aims. He was not a great orator either,” says Sampath when asked about how Basha gained such a large following.
“But he was adept at organizing things needed for carrying out such attacks—arranging ammunition, explosives, raising funds, etc. He even sent people to Kashmir, Pakistan, and Bangladesh for training. What also helped was that the DMK government did not take strong action against him until the 1998 blasts.”
Jayaraman attributed it to the increasing radicalization among the population, which made it amenable to being swayed by fanatic speeches and imaginary tales of Muslims being suppressed in India.
After The 1998 Blasts
The state government banned Al Ummah, and many of its leaders, including Basha, were arrested. While this did stymie the group’s activities, some of its members continued to be involved in terror. Investigations revealed that they were connected to the 2014 Bangalore blast and, most recently, the 2022 blast outside the Kottai Easwaran temple in Coimbatore.
Thus, while Basha is no more, the seeds he sowed continue to bear toxic fruits. Therefore, it is important to remember him for what he truly was—a terrorist. That is the least that people can do for the victims of the 1998 blasts, who have suffered loss of life, limb, and livelihood due to his acts of violence.
