The students’ agitation in Tamil Nadu against the alleged human rights violations by Sri lankan Army and administrators fizzled out by Saturday. All colleges closed since last week will be opened from Monday.
During the agitation, two youths set themselves ablaze to express solidarity with the Sri lankan Tamils. “The persons who committed suicide in the name of Sri lankan Tamils are from poor economic background. In the past also, we have seen many youngsters resorting to self immolation and this is disturbing,” said Swayambhu, chairman of a group of educational institutions in southern Tamil Nadu.
He said most of the students do not understand the complexities involved in the decades-old ethnic issue in Sri lanka. “There is a strong possibility that the agitation has been hijacked by elements of some of the Tamil extremist organisations,” said Swayambhu.
He is not the only person who is critical of the spurt in the agitations over Tamils. “Some of the educational institutions are encouraging and sponsoring the agitations to get free publicity through the media,” said the principal of an arts and science college, which downed the shutters following the present agitations.
How many of the students agitating against Sri lanka demanding death of Rajapaksa know the real story in the island nationIJ
The ulterior motive of the agitations is to form a separate Tamil Eelam, according to V Mariammaal, the 92-year-old mother of MDMK leader Vaiko. “We have to make Tamil Eelam, a dream of lTTE leader V Prabhakaran a reality. Mahinda Rajapaksa should be hanged to death,” said Mariammal who observed a day’s fast in the company of nearly 500 people at Kalingapatti village in Virudhunagar district.
Vaiko has also intensified the campaign for Eelam. It may sound paradox that while Vaiko is on a mission to save Murugan, Pararivalalan and Santhan, the three assassins of Rajiv Gandhi who have been sentenced to death, from the gallows, his own mother campaigns for death penalty for Rajapaksa.
“Protests of the students in support of separate Tamil Eelam will not die down and will take many new forms until the goal is achieved,” said Vaiko during the funeral of Vikram, a youth who set himself ablaze on Friday demanding separate Eelam.
The agitators and their bosses turn a blind eye to the fact that the Tamils in lanka have boycotted discussions with the federal Government in Colombo for devolution of power. Though the Sri lankan Government held elections to the north and eastern provinces of the island nation following the Rajiv-Jayavardhane accord of 1987, the winner was not allowed to rule the council even for one day. The Chief Minister of the Northern Province Varadaraja Perumal was chased out of the country by the lTTE and is staying in India as a refuge.
The Indian Peace Keeping Force which was sent to the northern Sri lanka to demobilise the lTTE as part of the Rajiv-Jayawardhane deal too had to be withdrawn following heavy casualties suffered by the IPKF. It was not the Sri lankan Army but the lTTE, claiming to represent the entire Tamils in the island nation, which inflicted heavy casualties on the Indian Army.
What the agitators in Tamil Nadu have forgotten is the Indian experience in Jammu & Kashmir, which has been given special status under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The Tamils want a separate State enjoying special powers like what is enjoyed by Jammu & Kashmir in India. President Rajapaksa has offered the Tamils reforms and concessions within the framework of the Sri lankan Constitution. But the Tamil politicians in the northern province have boycotted the parliamentary sub committees constituted to discuss the issue. The Tamil National Alliance, an umbrella organisation of all Tamil parties is being hold to ransom by the lTTE elements who want to secede from Sri lanka.
Is it practical for people in Punjab or West Bengal or in Tamil Nadu to demand more autonomy from the Union Government under the guise that they speak different languages and follow different culturesIJ
Tamils in Sri lanka are demanding the same. There are elements in Tamil Nadu masquerading as political outfits but promoting secession from India. leo Muthu, owner of a network of educational institutions spread across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka is one of the proponents of a separate Tamil nation. “Nauru, with a population of less than 10,000 is an independent country. There are more than seven crore Tamils in Tamil Nadu itself. What is wrong if we ask for a separate countryIJ” said Muthu.
It is interesting to note the distinct pattern of the demands which have been put forward by the AIADMK and the DMK. While Jayalalithaa demands a solution to the Tamil ethnic issue within the framework of the Sri lankan constitution, the DMK has no qualms in asking for a separate Tamil nation. What is of immediate importance is the rehabilitation and resettlement of the Tamils displaced by the 2009 Eelam War. The Rajapaksa Government should be pressurised to implement the rehabilitation plans to ensure that Tamils in the island nation get dignity and equal opportunities.
The professional agitators who demand the closure of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu have turned their attention to the Tamils in Sri lanka. The intensity of the Koodankulam has been toned down to strengthen the agitation for a separate Tamil Eelam. The Church is funding the agitation against KNPP. The immediate concern is the role of the Church in the agitation for Eelam.