Post Indian Elections: End of the Dream or a new start
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(May 15, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Tamils around the world closely watch to see who will win the Lok Sabha (lower house) elections, in which an estimated 714 million people voted costing nearly $250 million. The elections took place in five phases over a month, which started April 16 and ended on May 13. The largest democracy in the world will send 543 politicians to a five-year term. The last elections were held in 2004. The term of the 14th Lok Sabha expires on June 1, 2009.
Never before have the Tamils globally watched these elections as closely as they are on this occasion. Tamil Nadu State and Puducherry Union Territory politicians, whether it is ruling or opposition parties, (except all the national political parties, including Indian National Congress Party (Indian Congress) and Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) have gone to the hustings - with the mandate of a separate Tamil Eelam for Tamils. Secondly, Tamils want to see if the silent war in the northern Sri Lanka will either stop completely or reach a more disastrous stage, which would decide the destiny of the Tamil national question in Sri Lanka. Thirdly, the Tamils await to see whether the new government for the 15th Lok Sabha will lift the ban on LTTE, as the first step into allowing the government to hold direct talks with the LTTE and/or to act as mediator even in future peace talks between Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, and thereby, as the first country to lift the ban before demonstrating to other countries to follow suit. Fourthly, if India as a regional superpower has the fortitude to punish the Sri Lankan state authorities who unleashed genocide against Tamils using its influence in the international arena. And finally, what will be the options for the warring Eelam Tamils.
Indian election results importance to Tamils
Although the elections ended on May 13, the results will be announced on Saturday, May 16. This election is really important to Tamils in Sri Lanka because it could make a dramatic change in their life, as they are facing a genocidal war initiated by the Sri Lankan state. Although the LTTE remains a great military power to neutralize the Sri Lankan military, the LTTE has done nothing to affect a military balance so far. Thousands of people are dying in the North with the Sri Lankan armed forces giving an ultimatum that they will wipe out the LTTE cadres and “secure” all the civilians. But, reports indicate that fewer LTTE cadres are dying in the fight, while thousands of Tamil civilians are dying in the Sri Lankan heavy artillery shelling and aerial bombardment.
The LTTE still claim that it could bring the Sri Lankan armed forces to their feet, but it has not done anything. Rather, the LTTE say that the LTTE leadership would make a strategic move in the future. The LTTE strongly argues that they have not done any military operations in order for the international community to realize the just and fair struggle led by the Tamils. Although the LTTE does not launch attacks on Sri Lankan armed forces, the Sri Lankan armed forces are targeting civilians and thereby terrorizing the civilians. So, the international community should brand the Sri Lankan state as a terrorist state, rather than its old rhetoric that the LTTE is a terrorist movement. The LTTE have not done anything since 2002 after they entered into peace talks with Sri Lankan government led by Ranil Wickremesinghe under the facilitation of Norwegian government.
Whatever the LTTE leadership has planned it is successful in drawing the global attention towards Eelam struggle because the governments of the world have acknowledged the fact that the Tamils have grievances and their demands should be met peacefully rather than militarily. Also, they acknowledge the fact that the Sri Lankan government will never heed to the global demands for a humanitarian ceasefire. The world is tiring of the policies of the Sri Lankan state.
Further, the LTTE calculate that the elections will have an impact, as thousands of Tamils are being slaughtered in Sri Lanka. Nearly 80-million Tamils around the world have mobilized their support as never before. Elections in India, especially in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, are based on the Tamil Eelam mandate. All the regional parties have supported the call for an independent Tamil Eelam for Tamils in Sri Lanka and vow that they would create a separate state for Tamils on the island with the support of newly formed government in New Delhi. The support for Eelam Tamils grew dramatically in south India. The old saying goes: “Forgive and Forget”. South Indians have forgiven and forgotten what happened between the LTTE and India before 1991. Indians have realized that the life of an individual or a few, either it be commoner’s or a leader’s, cannot compromise the killings of thousands. Widowed Sonia or her children may think of the killing of Rajiv, but they should understand that this is not a time to take revenge because thousands of people are dying, so they should understand that the individual life cannot be compared to the deaths of thousands.
LTTE’s calculations have been fruitful because the LTTE has received great sympathy and support from south Indians. The LTTE, as the sole representative of the Tamils who are on the ground with the affected civilians, can obtain an independent Tamil Eelam. So, the LTTE’s silence not to fight the Sri Lankan armed forces is another strategy of the LTTE and that silence will bring a new government in India.
Political manoeuvres
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry politicians have now come forth with the mandate that they will help create an independent ‘Tamil Eelam’ for Tamils on Sri Lanka, in contrast to 1990 all the way through to the end of 2008, when the former Tamil Nadu chief minister and leader of All India, Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) J. Jayalalithaa, maintained a firm opposition to the LTTE and its demand for separate ‘Eelam’. She was campaigning heavily against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader, M. Karunanidhi, in 1990. As a result, DMK government was dismissed in January 1991, allegedly the nexus between LTTE and DMK, and as a result presidential rule was brought into effect with the excuse that there was a law and order problem. The DMK government was dismissed in exactly two years after it came to power in 1989. It is no doubt that Tamils applauded DMK government and the central government led by V. P. Singh for bringing back the Indian armed forces to India from Eelam after three years of unsuccessful war with the LTTE.
Jayalalithaa was a staunch supporter of LTTE before 1990 as was her mentor and leader and founder of AIADMK, Sri Lanka-born actor-turned- politician M. G. Ramachandran who gave millions of Rupees to LTTE even from his own account and from government treasury. With political turnaround, Jayalalithaa maintained opposition to LTTE since 1990.
Things changed in early 2009, as thousands of Tamil civilians in northern Sri Lanka were killed and others forced to flee their villages as the Sri Lankan armed forces were capturing the LTTE-held areas. Jayalalithaa condemned the State DMK government led by Karunanidhi and the central government led by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Manmohan Singh in which DMK is a major coalition partner. She was blaming Karunanidhi and New Delhi as providing weapons to Sri Lanka to kill Tamils on the island. Further, she branded the Sri Lankan armed forces as occupying forces saying that they have no right to occupy Tamil lands. In her party manifesto, she clearly stated she would help carve out an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka for Tamils, comprising the Northern and Eastern provinces of the island, which are the traditional homeland of Tamils.
On the other hand, Karunanidhi went on to say that he would help attain Eelam for Tamils if his party wins. Both parties along with their allies staged a good number of demonstrations, rallies, human chain, and fast protests demanding the Indian central government put pressure upon Sri Lanka to stop the war against Tamils.
However, central government has not heeded to the demands of Tamil Nadu. Three national political entities have to play a leading role to form the 15th Lok Sabha: United Progressive Alliance (UPA), National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the third front, which will be an amalgamation of eight parties including Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India Marxists (CPM), Forward Block, RPI, TDP, TRS, AIADMK and JD(S). The third force will have heavy weight in the elections. They will be the kingmaker. Although it may not form a government on its own, it will definitely extend support to either UPA or NDA on conditions, which may help the Tamils.
Such questions obviously arise in the minds of Tamils
The government coming into power in India will have to play a leading role in solving the Sri Lankan national question. The Tamil national question must be addressed, as the south Indian politicians will have great demands and that will be a headache for New Delhi if they do not fulfill their demands because all the political parties, despite their political affiliations, have stood in the elections with the mandate to help create Eelam
So, the question arises in the hearts of Tamils around the world as to whether the politicians in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will still speak of an independent Tamil Eelam after the elections. Also, the question of the current silent war is crucial. After diplomatic pressure from New Delhi, Colombo made slow progress in capturing the last hold of the LTTE, although the government armed forces were using heavy weapons to kill the Tamils. The question comes to mind whether the mute war will continue as it is or will it intensify in the aftermath of the Indian elections?
Also, the Tamils are anxious to know if India would lift the ban on LTTE because India has to do it, if it seriously considers the LTTE as the representative of the Tamils; it is an inevitable fact that the LTTE is the sole freedom movement of the Tamils who fight continuously without giving up their demands for the last three-decades while dozen other Tamil militant organizations gave up their demands and most of them joined the LTTE while others joined the Sri Lankan government and are considered traitors by the Tamils. It is an obvious fact that nobody wants to sit at the table with a criminal; hence, India has to lift the ban on the LTTE before sitting together. Also, the Tamils anxiously wait to see if India would help legal experts bring Sri Lankan political and military leaders to justice to punish them for launching Tamil genocide. Sri Lankan president’s brothers and the army commander are American citizens, and can be prosecuted for crimes against humanity under U.S. local laws. Further, many other Sri Lankan leaders can be prosecuted by the International Court of Justice based in The Hague in The Netherlands for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention. India has the power to do it, but it will the new government do it?
The most important question in the minds of the millions of Tamils is whether the new government will be a giver or taker? Will they force tens of thousands of Tamils to live or die? Thousands of LTTE cadres wear cyanide capsules around their neck. Will they fight back to win the struggle and create an independent ‘Tamil Eelam’ by driving the occupying Sinhala armed forces from their homeland, or will they have to embrace death, leaving millions of Tamils homeless and hopeless?
The answers will come to light once the elections results are made public. In any event, the new government in New Delhi will have to do its homework better than the previous governments, which have maintained an anti-LTTE stance with a lack of knowledge about the Eelam struggle. The Tamils around the world keep Indira Gandhi, the daughter of first Indian Prime Minister and former prime mister, as well as mother of late Rajiv Gandhi and mother-in-law of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, in their hearts because she understood the Tamil national conflict well and she helped Tamil militants train militarily and provided weapons to defend themselves. As Jayalalithaa has vowed, Tamils around the world wait to see if the new government in India will take a step similar to Indira Gandhi’s actions where East and West Pakistan were divided into Pakistan and Bangladesh. In any event, India and the international community should know the facts and in case if they cannot liberate independent ‘Tamil Eelam’, they should not be a hindrance to the LTTE. The LTTE will wait for global reorganization for a sovereign ‘Tamil Eelam’ and for India and the international community to recognize ‘Tamil Eelam’ as they did to Kosovo, Monte Negro, and East Timor in the recent past.
(The author can be reached at e-mail: satheesan_kumaaran@yahoo.com)
This man has probably taken a lot of
Kayippu, and so he is delusional.
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