Tiger troubles

(October 24, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Thanks to the forthcoming general elections and the peril of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, ‘Eelam’ politics has taken the state of Tamilnadu by storm.

Those pro-LTTE parties, by virtue of their closeness to the organisation, have started acting with a single point agenda of enforcing a ‘ceasefire’ by hook or crook in order to save the Tiger Chief Prabakaran.

Started by the PMK and followed by the Left parties, the DMDK, the MDMK and the VCK, all have conducted demonstrations to showcase their love for ‘LTTE’ in the name of ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’.

The ruling DMK also organised a public meeting followed by a telegram-protest and a resignation drama by its MPs after an ‘all party’ meeting. This sudden spurt in the Eelam politics, forced the AIADMK, the BJP and the Congress to condemn the Sri Lankan government and talk in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils, which in the context of Tamilnadu, is a support for the Tigers.

The protest demonstration conducted by the Tamil film fraternity in Rameshwaram, reportedly at the behest of the DMK government, saw a few speakers desperately flaunting their unequivocal support for the LTTE, separate Tamil Eelam and even separate Tamilnadu!

The government turned a blind eye to such dangerous talks of separatism and support for terrorism, and emboldened the parties like the MDMK and the VCK. While VCK Chief Thirumavalavan announced a rail-roko, MDMK Chief Vaiko addressed a meeting in which he had stated that he would even take to arms and recruitment of youth in support of the LTTE. His party colleague and former Union Minister Kannappan had said that a day would come for demanding separate Tamilnadu.

The eruption of pro-LTTE voices and the concept of Tamil separatism made the AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa to counter-say that she would arrest all those separatists and terror supporters were she in power. Perhaps to nullify her voice, the government swung into action and arrested Vaiko, who is at present an ally of the AIADMK. His colleague Kannappan was also arrested.

Meanwhile, VCK cadres led by their leader Thirumavalavan staged a ‘rail-roko’ through out the State and in Madurai railway station, two coaches of a special train, which was standing separately in the maintenance yard, were set on fire allegedly by ‘unknown’ miscreants.

No action has been taken on the VCK cadre. Again, the government, for obvious reasons, has preferred not to arrest those speakers from the film industry despite a demand from the State Congress leaders. It has also not taken any action against the goons of the Periyar Dravida Kazhagam, which attacked a newspaper office in Coimbatore for writing against the LTTE.

Vaiko’s arrest is seen as a ploy to corner and silence Jayalalithaa and also to try and establish that the DMK was doing things under the matrix of law. It is also meant to satisfy the increasing uneasy Congress, whose chief Sonia Gandhi, ironically did not think twice about aligning with the DMK whose symapthies for the Tigers —— the proven kilers of her husband —— were well established.

All these orchestrated drama, it is being hoped by vested interests, would help Prabakaran gain time to regroup, reequip and resurge.

But it is most unlikely that the Sri Lankan government would accede to a ceasefire demand, as it has already surrounded Prabakaran’s bastion by waging the final war.

Having reached this decisive stage, it would not go back from its determined stand of finishing the LTTE. As Prabakaran is a proclaimed offender in India, the Centre cannot afford to lift the ban on the LTTE. To satisfy the Tamilnadu government, the Centre may release reports of its talks with Sri Lanka then and there and it would also release statements both inside and outside parliament.

Karunanithi cannot afford to antagonise the Centre, for he depends on the support of TNCC to run his ‘minority’ government.

If this issue impetuously aggravates itself into a big problem, it may even lead to changes in alliance equations, for there are no permanent foes or friends in politics. More dramatic days are ahead in Tamil politics!

- Editorial, Chennai based Evening paper the News Today.- Sri Lanka Guardian