Has Karunanidhi the guts to tell Sonia Gandhi that his friend Prabhakaran is not a terrorist?

By Durga Velautham from New Delhi

The frail, feeble and decrepit politician Karunanidhi could have only survived this long in politics only in Tamilnadu, a state addicted to the fantasies of the film world that are considered real and thereby deadens and destroys what human beings are capable of achieving in any challenging situations. People of Tamilnadu live in a world of tomorrow with Utopian dreams that will never ever unfold without even a bit of it realized attempted and achieved by visions, ideals and committed hard work. Suddenly Karunanidhi considers Prabhakaran as a friend; even worse states that he is not a terrorist. He must certainly be senile and falling apart mentally and physically.

(April 20, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Muthuvelar Karunanidhi, whose real name is Thedchanamoorthy, is a clever fellow who began life as a film script writer for the Tamil cinema. In the course of it, he mastered all the tinge, shades and nuances of Tamil cinema’s villainy more than the heroics. As is natural to the fantasies of the Tamil cinema, he too took to it and is one among almost all the political leaders of Tamilnadu who made to the top.

In the forthcoming general elections at least four Tamilnadu parties are headed by film people and the masses themselves are perpetually intoxicated with Tamil films, India’s most substandard and shoddy variety. Tamilnadu filmmakers focus mostly on anything that is foreign when it comes to heroes and scenic presentations and have no pride in whatever is beautiful in the state. A boring example would be the hero arriving from America having a 6-star rating and another would be singing and dancing in Switzerland and lovely locations like Manimuththaru a tiger sanctuary, Theni, Salem and many others considered unsuitable.

Tamilnadu politics also excels in the ugly graffiti with which all public places are daubed with gaudy and garish political slogans and also giant-sized cinema-style cut outs all over, so much so even street signs are perpetually obscured. Around Christmastime Madurai’s streets get a horrible vomit of giant cut outs virtually one every thirty feet or so celebrating the birthday of Karunanidhi’s gangster son, Alagiri. Each poster would have dwarfed pictures of the sponsors at the feet of the giant Alagiri who would be portrayed from a reincarnation of Rama, Arjunan to a Neil Armstrong walking on the moon and Satchin Tendulkar scoring a six with every ball. The dwarfed guys are those who have sought favours from the Karunanidhi clan, an act of servitude that beggars description. This is called political consciousness.

Those favour-seekers who fail to participate in this rotten roadside exhibitionism had better be on the lookout for consequences that may likely be maliciously malevolent. Alagagiri means business.

Karunanidhi is part and parcel of this violent culture and ethos and must be under the impression that Prabhakaran is someone like his film characters who play the role of the villains. Though much advanced in age, he has not matured enough to understand realities especially that his “good friend’ Prabhakaran, for real, has been ranked as the most brutal terrorist in the world. Perhaps like his sons Stalin and Alagiri, Karunanidhi sees heroes in villains and gangsters. These are sons he has nurtured into public life.

Political opportunism cannot go down to the level of Tamilnadu politicians of recent years. It is unbelievable that an office held by such stalwarts as C Rajagopalachariar, P S Kumaraswamy Raja, K Kamaraj and C N Annadurai has now descended to the level of a man presiding over a rancid family cronyism and considers Prabhakaran as his friend and no terrorist at all.

On two occasions he cheated the one man, V R Nedunchezliyan, a born leader and a scholar of great repute most fit to become the chief minister. He was the senior most ministers on both occasions, following the deaths of C N Annadurai and later M G Ramachandran. On the first occasion Nedunchezliyan was the caretaker chief minister for only one week and the second time following three weeks of Janaki Ramachandran’s rule following the death of her husband, for two weeks. On both occasions it was Karunanidhi who wormed his way as chief minister.

Just a couple of weeks ago Jeyaram Jayalalitha nearly “LBWed” him on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue in the current federal elections campaign. Although she is opposed to the LTTE and Prabhakaran, she expressed her support for the Tamil Eelam cause. And this is all sheer politics to capture the Tamilnadu voters. Both Jeyaram Jayalalitha and Muthuvelar Karunanidhi lack the courage to condemn the LTTE that was responsible for the assassination of India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Tamilnadu soil. They cannot even see that the LTTE is the biggest threat to, not only to the Tamils in Sri Lanka but also to Tamilnadu and the neighbouring Indian states.

All these boil down to shoddy Tamilnadu politics just as much as nearly all the movies produced in the state. No wonder it is these movie people who dominate Tamilnadu politics.

Now what is the need for Karunanidhi to publicly state that Prabhakaran is not a terrorist and more, he is his friend and he would be heartbroken if this ruthless terrorist is killed in the current action against the LTTE in Sri Lanka?

This is Tamilnadu politics and he certainly wanted to counter the LBW potential Jayalalitha has but this kind of cricket is a disgraceful display of what is real about Tamilnadu politics. Karunanidhi, as a compensation is assured of having his portrait carried aloft along with Prabhakaran in the current demonstrations organized by the pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora in some of the city streets of the west.

Karunanidhi and his coterie of Tamilnadu politicians must understand Sri Lanka is no business of Tamilnadu and that its sovereignty must be respected. In other words, Sri Lanka is not a part of India. It is better for Karunanidhi to provide toilets for the Tamilnadu masses and bring a bit of dignity to the public image of his state than poking his head into Sri Lankan affairs.

Here is the man who opted for colour TVs to buy his voters when for each of which three toilets could have been provided. One is also not sure whether he practices the Hindu or Islamic faith. He had the need to make his marital status legal because according to Indian laws only the people of the Islamic faith can have more than one wife; Karunanidhi married two when his first wife, singer Chidambaram Jayaraman’s daughter died. Further, the Dravidian culture abhors such marriages.

In the Indian NDTV where he appeared with his daughter to help him with English, a language spoken even by the three-wheeler drivers of Tamilnadu, Karunanidhi seemed like a man overdue for a retirement home than to be the chief in a political arena. Tamilnadu, in how it is reacting to the LTTE, is playing with fire that threatens the future of the state because it is to this state the LTTE is now rushing to seek a safe haven.

Will Karunanidhi have the guts to tell the head of the Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, that Prabhakaran is not a terrorist but even more, he is his good friend?

-Sri Lanka Guardian