FOR the first time in the past 26 years, after the Sri Lankan Tamil issue became part of the political discourse in Tamil Nadu in 1983, it has become a talking point on election platforms in the State. Even as political parties used it for political one-upmanship, they gave the Sri Lankan issue a wide berth when it came to making it an election issue. After the LTTE assassinated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991, the DMK was trounced in the Assembly elections with the Congress and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), then allies, going to town accusing the DMK of adopting a soft line on the LTTE.
There were enough indications from January that the opposition would not hesitate to use the Sri Lankan Tamil issue in the run-up to general elections to excoriate the DMK and the Congress, partners in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre, on their inaction in bringing about a ceasefire on the island. The Sri Lanka Army capturing large swathes of territory from the LTTE, and the Tamil press highlighting the killing of Tamil civilians in the crossfire, had an impact on the public mood.
On April 16, at a largely attended public meeting in Chennai, the AIADMK-led alliance front comprising the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) made it clear that it would make the Sri Lankan Tamil problem an issue at the hustings. AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, MDMK general secretary Vaiko, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI national secretary D. Raja and PMK founder Dr.S. Ramadoss went hammer and tongs at the inaction of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre to bring about a ceasefire and the DMK government playing a second fiddle to it.
Vaiko, who has been consistently alleging that it is the Government of India which is waging the war on behalf of the Sri Lankan government against the LTTE, said that although the United States, England and the United Nations insisted on Colombo declaring a ceasefire, the government of India had never asked for it.
Raja said India could not abdicate its responsibility of ensuring a ceasefire on the grounds that Sri Lanka was an independent country and that India could not interfere in its civil war.
Prakash Karat accused the UPA government of dereliction of duty in the issue and said if only it had devoted on the Tamil problem one-tenth of the time it spent in negotiating the nuclear deal with the U.S., it could have stopped the war in Sri Lanka.
What has made the difference this time is the sea change in the stance of Jayalalithaa on the Sri Lankan issue. She had made no bones about her opposition to the LTTE. During her earlier tenure as Chief Minister, she tabled a resolution on April 16, 2002 in the Assembly that if necessary, the Indian Army should go to the island and, with the help of the Sri Lanka Army, capture Prabakaran and that he should be made to face the trial in a court of law for his role in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. A few weeks ago, she had said that Tamil civilians getting killed in the conflict was inevitable. However, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, she first signalled a change in her stand when she declared her support to the Sri Lankan Tamils right to self-determination and even the formation of a separate Tamil Eelam.
The AIADMK election manifesto called for an immediate cessation of war in Sri Lanka and demanded an immediate stop to the genocide against the civilian Tamil population. The Tamils, it said, should be accorded equal status with the Sinhala majority, with the devolution of administrative power to the Tamil-dominated provinces of Sri Lanka. If these moves fail, then the AIADMK will press for a separate State of Eelam to ensure that the Tamils on the island live a life of dignity, its manifesto added.
With Vaiko, Ramadoss and D. Pandian, State secretary of the CPI hitting the campaign trail and attacking the DMK government for its abject inability to force the Centre to pressure Colombo to declare a ceasefire, the DMK high command realised it was on the backfoot on this issue. Time was running out too. If the compulsions of coalition politics with the Congress had prevented the DMK from taking up the issue in a big way, it had to perforce demonstrate that its sympathies were still with the islands Tamils.
On April 9, the DMK took out a rally in Chennai, demanding a ceasefire. Chief Minister Karunanidhi took part in the rally. He said that there was no other option in the present situation than to plead, Oh, mother! save the Tamils and that if the war in Sri Lanka were to end (with a defeat for the Tamils), Prabakaran should be treated with respect, like the way Alexander the Great treated King Porus.
This provided more ammunition to the CPI, the MDMK and the PMK for a fresh round of onslaught on the DMK. Karunanidhi comparing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Alexander the Great had made the Tamils hang their heads [in shame], said Ramadoss. Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P. Nedumaran said the mischievous desire of the Chief Minister will never be fulfilled.
With no ceasefire in sight despite its rally and endless pleadings to the Centre, the DMK called for a bandh in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on April 23 to press the Centre to initiate steps for a ceasefire and protect the Tamils. On April 17, Karunanidhi had sent telegrams to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee requesting the Centre to snap all diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka if it did not heed Mukherjees call for a cessation of hostilies. The Chief Minister sent another telegram to them on April 2 asking them to give an ultimatum to the Sri Lankan government for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and save lakhs of Tamils the war-like situation in Sri Lanka is alarming and that the plight of the Tamils is very critical.
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan met Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo on April 24. On April 26, the LTTE announced a ceasefire but Colombo rejected it, calling it a joke. There was no word from New Delhi either about what was under way.
It was in this background that the 85-year-old Karunanidhi drove down to his mentor C.N. Annadurais samadhi in Chennai on the morning of April 27 and announced that he was beginning an indefinite fast to sacrifice himself to bring about a ceasefire. The move stunned the Centre. Karunanidhi told reporters that he had decided to go on an indefinite fast because his hopes about the ceasefire were dashed when Colombo rejected the ceasefire announced by the LTTE. Since the Sinhala government in Sri Lanka never came forward to make such an announcement, I began this fast to sacrifice myself and to be counted as one of the lives extinguished by the Sri Lankan Government, the Chief Minister said.
There are two versions about the reason behind Karunanidhi taking this step. One version goes like this: Shivshankar Menon and Narayanan met Rajapaksa and requested him for a ceasefire on April 24, he reportedly agreed that he would announce a ceasefire in a few days after the elections to the western provincial council were held on April 25. The news was also reportedly conveyed to Karunanidhi. But the Chief Minister jumped the gun and went on a fast to put Rajapaksa on the mat and to get credit for the ceasefire if it came about.
The second version, an informed DMK source gave, was: after the two Indian envoys met Rajapaksa, Karunanidhi expected a positive outcome. But nothing came from New Delhi. He got a feeling that he was being taken for a ride. But he could not express it openly. Within a couple of hours of his embarking on the fast, he got phone calls from Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and Chidambaram [Union Home Minister], the source said. A few hours later, Colombo announced the end of combat operations with heavy calibre weapons, combat aircraft and aerial weapons, which could cause civilian casualties. And Karunanidhi called off his fast.
Jayalalithaa, Vaiko, Ramadoss and Vijayakant, founder of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam called Karunanidhis fast a drama. Jayalalithaa said, How can we call the mere stoppage of dropping of bombs a ceasefire?
Meawhile, Jayalalithaa has signalled that she was serious about her newfound enthusiasm for Eelam. She asserted on April 25 that if the next government at the Centre were to be formed with the help of the AIADMK and if that government were to heed the AIADMKs word, steps would be taken to establish a separate Tamil Eelam. I will take the required steps for it. Formation of Eelam is the only way to find a permanent solution to the Sri Lankan problem, she said.
Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal described her demand for Tamil Eelam as anti-national and irresponsible. In a sharply worded reply to Sibal, she said, I am a patriot to the core and I do not need Kapil Sibal to teach me lessons in patriotism. I have stated that a separate Tamil Eelam should be carved out in Sri Lanka. How can that be an anti-national act in India?
As the election campaign hots up, it is clear that the AIADMK-led front has hijacked the Sri Lankan Tamil issue from the DMK and that the DMK is in despair.
T.S. SubramanianCOMMents
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