The Situation in Tamil Nadu and Politics Concerning Eelam
by M. Nadarajan
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[Vaiko] is a great supporter of the Tamil Eelam cause. He was asked what happens to his stand
on the Eelam issue now and he said he will continue to support it vigorously. Maybe he can change Ms. Jayalalitha's stance on this matter.
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As we all know, there was plenty of support for Eelam Tamils in Tamil Nadu at
one time. After the assassination of the late Rajiv Gandhi most of this
evaporated. This was due to the authorities blaming the LTTE for the assassination. All the
accused who appeared in the case were sentenced to death. Subsequently, all
but four were released. Appeals have been made by Eelam supporters
for Presidential pardon and/or commutation of the sentence for these four. As is
the practice in India, decisions on such matters take years.
However, there continued a certain amount of support for the Eelam cause, like embers covered by
ashes, amongst the general public. Some senior politicians said that they
supported the Tamils of Eelam , but (to save their skin) not the LTTE. Chief
Minister Jayalalitha had fears that she was on the hit list of the LTTE and
appeared in public wearing a bullet proof vest.
There were a few others who openly supported Eelam Tamils and had meetings,
conferences and conventions all over Tamil Nadu and even in Bangalore and in
New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Justice Krishna Iyer. The conference in New Delhi was convened by
Mr. George Fernandez, who later became Defense Minister.
 Chief amongst the open supporters of Eelam Tamils have been Messrs. Pala
Nedumaran, President of The Tamil National Movement and The World Tamil
Federation, Vaiko, leader of the MDMK, Dr. Ramadass, leader of the PMK, Messrs. Thirumavalavan, leader of the Dalit Panthers, Veeramani of the DK, Viduthalai
Rajendran of the Periyar DK and a host of their friends and followers, too
numerous to mention.
Mr. Nedumaran, in addition, formed the Tamil Eelam Liberation Supporters
Coordinating Committee, which publishes a fortnightly newspaper called
'Then Seide'. The newspaper publishes a fair amount of Eelam news and what is
happening in Sri Lanka, particularly in the Northeast. It ha also published
'Background Papers' on many subjects relating to Eelam Tamils and the
background of the national problem in Sri Lanka. Many of these background reports have been reprints
of articles in the Ilankai Tamil Sangam website. These were published in English and
distributed throughout India to political parties, governments in power in
the States, Libraries, Universities and Human Rights organizations.
 The Indian Government passed TADA (the Terrorism and Disruptive and
Activities Prevention Act) in 1987 and started prosecuting people under the
Act. The accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case were also prosecuted
under that Act. Several others were prosecuted under the Act, not always
for the right reason. This was possibly another reason for the support for
the Eelam Tamil cause diminishing, out of fear. This Act lapsed in 1995. In
2002 another Act called POTA (the Prevention of Terrorism Act) was passed in the
aftermath of the 9/11 event in New York. The Act has since been repealed, in
2004.
During the time this Act was operative, State governments started to settle
old scores by arresting many leaders who were opposed to their views. Cases
were filed against the opposition and, since the system of justice in India takes a
long time to conclude court cases, leaders spent many months - and some of
them years - in jail till the cases were decided. Countrywide condemnation of
this Act was perhaps one of the reasons for its repeal.
In Tamil Nadu, Mr. Nedumaran and some of his supporters and members of the
Tamil National Movement and Mr.Vaiko and some of his supporters and members
of MDMK were arrested and spent long times in jail. They were accused of
making speeches supporting the LTTE, which is a banned organization in
India. They have all been released now, as they were not found guilty.
In
Mr. Nedumaran's case, the State government has appealed against the verdicts
and he has been prohibited from speaking at meetings. Two new cases have been
filed against him. In almost all cases that were filed in Tamil Nadu, the so-
called offences were supposed to have been committed several years ago.
When the arrest of Mr.Nedumaran took place, police sealed the 'Then Seide'
office, and later broke it open and removed many documents. 'Then Seide,' however, continues to be published.
Recent events are in Tamil Nadu are very interesting. When it was known that
Sri Lankan President Rajapakse was coming to Tamil Nadu to meet the Chief
Minister in December 2005, after visiting the Indian Prime Minister in New
Delhi, a mammoth meeting was held at 'Periyar Thidal,' the grounds in the DK
office premises, to protest against the visit. Mesrs.Vaiko, Veeramani and
Dr. Ramadass were among the people who spoke. Mr. Nedumaran was present,
but could not take the podium because of the ban on his public speaking. As a result of the
protest, the Chief Minister canceled Mr. Rajapakse's visit. This created a
stir in Tamil Nadu.
Thousands of telegrams were sent on behalf of Tamil Eelam Supporters
Coordinating Committee to the Prime Minister asking him not to sign any
military agreement with the Sri Lankan Government. Mr .Vaiko and Dr. Ramadass went personally to speak with the Prime Minister about this.
On Feb.
14th, 2006 a Conference was held in Chennai under auspices of the Liberation
Panthers in support of the "Protection of Eelam Tamils." Leaders of various
parties spoke at the meeting. A similar Conference for the same purpose was
held at the 'Periyar Thidal' on Feb.19th, 2006 under the auspices of the Periyar
Dravida Kazhagam of 'Viduthalai' Rajendran.
It has been decided to hold similar Conferences in most capitals of the
districts of Tamil Nadu State.
It has been also decided by the Tamil Eelam Supporters Coordinating Committee to
hold a meeting in Madurai condemning the shooting of fishermen from Tamil
Nadu by the Sinhalese Navy. This matter has raised a lot of concern
throughout Tamil Nadu.
At the Third Annual Convention of the World Tamil Federation held at
Nagarkovil in July 2005, which was attended by Tamils from all over the
World, a resolution was passed condemning the proposed joint Indo-Sri Lanka
military agreement. It was also proposed at the convention to establish
coordination between Tamil Organizations in Tamil Nadu and in Sri Lanka. Sri
Lankan Parliamentarian Mr. Chandrasekaran of the Up-country Peoples Front
and Pulavar Subramaniam, President of Bangalore Tamil Sangam were appointed
as coordinators of this effort.
 On the political front, surprisingly, Mr.Vaiko of the MDMK has joined Chief
Minister Jayalalitha's party to jointly contest the local elections to the
State Assembly which is to take place shortly. Vaiko, who was estranged with
Kalaignar's DMK party for a few years, joined the party again. He is a great
supporter of the Tamil Eelam cause. He was asked what happens to his stand
on the Eelam issue now and he said he will continue to support it vigorously.
Maybe he can change Ms. Jayalailatha's stance on this matter.
Vaiko's move had been
rumored for some time, and was supposed to be based on the fact that the
A.I.D.M.K was prepared to give his party many more seats to contest than the
D.M.K. allotted. Mr.Vaiko denied the rumor and appeared with Aligner Karunanithi at meetings. But the rumor became a fact, and he did join the
Chief Minister.
There is more than meets the eye on this move, and in my
view, there is more than a few more seats involved.
All in all, the new moves in Tamil Nadu seem favorable to Eelam Tamils.
N.B.
Since the article was written on April 5th, the Madras High Court has relaxed the conditions on not to speak at meetings on Messrs Nedumaran, Subaveerapandian and Thiyagappan and others in view of the forthcoming State Assembly elections. However they are restarined from speaking against the State government or in support of the LTTE or any banned organisations.
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