TN Drug Bust: Echoes Of Gutkha Scandal Are Haunting The DMK

Straight off the bat, it should be said that Tamil Nadu is not in the throes of a major drug problem among its youth.

The drug usage among the youngsters here is not any more, or any less, than it is in other states, except perhaps Punjab where it is a bigger scourge as seen in movies like Udta Punjab (2016).

But it is tempting to believe that Tamil Nadu may be a big hub for the drug mafia as the recent seizures involving some prominent persons from the state seem to suggest.

To be sure, major drug hauls are also happening in other states, especially at the Gujarat ports. But most of them arrive as unspecified consignments carrying anonymous addresses. So who is behind those illegal cargo still remains a murky mystery. 

Here in Tamil Nadu, things are unfolding rapidly on the drug font. Yesterday (6 March), the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), in a joint operation — the previous pun is inadvertent —  busted a drug smuggling attempt near Mandapam.

Four people have been arrested and drugs worth Rs 108 crore seized. And a few days back, the party drug methamphetamine worth Rs 180 crore meant for transport to Sri Lanka was recovered from a rail passenger in Madurai.

These have come on the back of the busting of the drug cartel helmed by the former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionary and film producer A R Jaffer Sadiq, who along with his brother is now on the run. 

Sadiq's name hit the headlines after the Delhi Police and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) busted an international network involved in the smuggling of 3,500 kg of pseudoephedrine valued at over Rs 2,000 crore in the international market.

In that operation, carried out last month, three men from Tamil Nadu were arrested and their interrogation threw up the name of Sadiq as the kingpin of the entire operation. The modus operandi of the group was to smuggle pseudoephedrine to Australia and New Zealand stealthily mixed in health powder and desiccated coconut.

It is also believed that Sadiq and his cohorts including his brother Mohamed Saleem, who is also absconding, had established their shady operations across the state. Some places that they were involved with have also been raided.

Annamalai Pins The Scandal On DMK

While the NCB raids and cracking of the drug trade is happening on the one side, on the other there are inevitable ramifications to Sadiq's scandal.

The man was part of the non-resident Indian (NRI) wing of the ruling DMK while his brother Mohamed Saleem was the deputy secretary of its Central Chennai zone of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), an important ally of the DMK and the Congress in the state.

The DMK wasted no time in expelling Sadiq from the party. But the VCK wasn't that keen. Only when the outcry on social media platforms became loud that the party chose to kick Saleem out. 

Be that as they may be, the question is: how will such a high-profile drug bust play out politically? Sadiq seems to be no small fish in this illegal trade. He is believed to be the mastermind of the cartel.

The BJP, as reported by my colleague, has already cornered the DMK leadership on this issue.

The party's state unit president K Annamalai has gone on the offensive coming out with several statements on the issue. He has also put out a tweet alleging Sadiq and his cartel made "TN their abode after DMK came to power in May 2021 & colluded with leaders in DMK to expand their empire." 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself picked the ball when he was in Chennai a couple of days ago and accused the ruling party of allowing "uncontrolled sale of drugs in Tamil Nadu". It is clear that the opposition parties in Tamil Nadu are not going to let the matter die down quietly.

Elsewhere, the rabble-rousing political commentator and the self-styled social media warrior Savukku Shankar is also going hammer and tongs on the issue. His allegations are dynamite and mighty embarrassing to the DMK leadership.

While he has been relentless, the mainstream media in Tamil Nadu seems to be downplaying this sensational incident. The usually voluble sections of the media, which would usually go on an overdrive in the face of such a scandal, have been tongue-tied. In that sense, the ruling section is still in control of the narrative on this issue so far. 

Director Ameer Should Be Interrogated 

But the DMK leadership indeed has a lot to answer for in the whole affair. Sadiq had managed to get an audience with right from Chief Minister M K Stalin to Udhayanidhi Stalin to ministers in the DMK hierarchy.

Of course, politicians are forced to meet a variety of people and get to pose with them for pictures. It comes with the territory of their vocation. That in itself doesn't make them guilty. But what is disconcerting here is that Sadiq’s snaps with DMK leadership was not a mere one-off. One of the main ministers in Stalin's cabinet, Sekar Babu, cut the ribbon at the inauguration of Sadiq's hotel in Chennai. 

Sadiq's pointsperson in the film world and with the DMK seems to have been producer-director Ameer Sultan. The latter has a lot to answer as he cannot  distance himself from Sadiq as just an acquaintance.

Sadiq had bankrolled Sultan's movie. The controversial producer-director has also taken Sadiq around to meet film  world biggies and also introduced him to the DMK leaders. There are also videos in which Sultan vouches for Sadiq's rise as a business person. 

There is a talk that Sultan might be picked up by the authorities for questioning. Whether that happens or not, the director of Paruthiveeran has to come clean on the issue. It is on Suntan's shoulder that Sadiq rode into filmdom and politics.

It is improbable to believe that Sultan had no inkling of the other shady side of Sadiq. Sultan, aside from putting out a video, has also made himself scarce from the media. 

It is also befuddling how the intelligence sleuths in Tamil Nadu did not pick the scent of Sadiq and allowed him to gain access to the top right up to the Chief Minister and his powerful son.

It is a slap in the face of the intelligence gathering in Tamil Nadu that they did not properly vet someone as shady and diabolic as Sadiq.  As it happened, Sadiq had also got an audience with the top cops in the state, and that makes it much worse. 

DMK Finds Itself Cornered

It is clear that the heat is well and truly on the DMK leadership, which is clearly squirming. It also raises the question whether this drug bust will be this regime's equivalent of the gutkha scandal that ripped apart the previous All India Anna Dravida Mennetra Kazagham (AIADMK) government. 

It relates to the alleged involvement of the former ministers, former IPS officers and other officials in the Tamil Nadu police, Greater Chennai Corporation, Food Safety Department and Commercial Taxes Wing, among others, in taking bribes to the tune of Rs 40 crore for facilitating the storage, transportation and sale of gutkha, which is banned in the state since 2013.

The CBI has charged former health minister C Vijayabaskar, former commercial Taxes Minister B V Ramana, former directors-general of police T K Rajendran and S George, and 17 others in the gutkha scandal.

The DMK made much political capital of the scam, and is among the reasons for the AIADMK getting defeated in the last state assembly elections. 

These are early days in the Sadiq drug scandal. As more details emerge, it will be known as to which way the case will proceed. As of now, things are hugely embarrassing for the DMK and its leadership. If more revelations emerge, Annamalai and company will go for the jugular.