Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), urged the government of Tamil Nadu to build a monument commemorating the Mullivaikkal massacre in a recent webinar.
In a digital gathering convened as a mark of protest against the demolition of the Mullivaikkal memorial monument in Jaffna University, Rudrakumaran said that Chennai should erect a monument in the Marina Beach, a prominent landmark in the capital. In a further appeal, he requested the government to declare May 18 as the 'Global Tamils' Mourning Day'.
Speaking about the destruction, Rudrakumaran congratulated the Jaffna University students for mobilising spontaneously against Sri Lankan state-sponsored oppression.
Rudrakumaran said "the destruction of Mullivaikkal monument was another manifestation of the ugly face of evil Sinhala racism towards the Tamils,” EIN PressWire reported.
Rudrakumaran further pointed out that the destruction took place hours after Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited the island and called on Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Jaishankar had said that it was in Sri Lanka's interests to satisfy Tamil aspirations in the country. Rudrakumaran raised the possibility that the timing of the demolition may have been deliberately fixed to spite Jaishankar.
The destruction of the monument gave rise to a flurry of condemnations across the Palk Strait in Tamil Nadu. Prominent politicians including the Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy himself denounced the act by Sri Lankan authorities. Opposition leader M.K. Stalin, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) Leader Thol. Thirumavalavan and several other politicians expressed their vehement disapproval of the demolition.
Vaiko, leader of another Dravidian party and a long-standing champion of an independent Tamil Eelam, organised a protest in Chennai and courted arrest by the police. Demonstrations also took place outside the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Nungambakkam.
Read more here: Hundreds protest for removal of Sri Lankan embassy in Chennai.
Following the widespread international condemnation of the destroyed Mullivaikkal monument, reconstruction of the memorial began at Jaffna University on Friday. The original monument was designed and constructed by university students to remember the tens of thousands of Tamils killed in the genocidal offensive at the end of the armed conflict in May 2009. University authorities claimed the orders to toople the monument came from Sri Lankan government and military sources.
.
