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| Mr. Singh met five TNA MPs and Mr. Subaveera Pandiyan (2nd r), representative of DMK leader Karunaniddhi. Reports said the meeting was 'very warm and positive.' Photo TamilNet |
This is the first time that the top Indian leadership was meeting a group openly aligned with the LTTE, banned in 1992 after being blamed for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
The Asian Age reported that observers in India feel that it could well be the beginning of a process, sponsored by Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, to break the ice with the LTTE and bring pressure on Colombo.
The TNA team, led by Parliamentary Group leader, R. Sampanthan, had met Mr Karunanidhi at Chennai on Wednesday December 20, and briefed him on the situation back home. The DMK is an important constituent of the UPA government.
Mr. Singh was accompanied by India’s national security adviser M.K. Narayanan and foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon to the 45-minute meeting.
"It was a very fruitful meeting with the Prime Minister. He expressed concern about the denial of human rights to the Tamils by the Sinhala government and assured that India would do its best to ensure we live in peace and dignity," said Mr Selvam Adaikalanathan, leader of TELO, one of the constituents of the TNA.
“This is a very encouraging development for us,” he said.
Mr. Sampanthan quoted Prime Minister Singh as saying that India was committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in a manner acceptable to the Tamil-speaking people.
Coming at a critical juncture in the decades-old ethnic conflict, the meeting with the Indian Premier was "of tremendous significance" and was bound to have "significant impact on the coming future", he said.
In telling contrast to the snub they received the last time they came to India three months ago, when both Prime Minister Singh and chief minister Karunanidhi refused to meet them, the Tamil team members were treated as state guests this time, the Asian Age opinioned, adding Dr Singh, in fact, came out of his office to receive the delegation with folded hands.
After being led to the meeting room, Mr Sampanthan and his senior colleague, Mavai Senathirajah, draped shawls around the Prime Minister to show their warmth.
However, the expected meeting with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi did not take place as the Congress president was touring Uttar Pradesh. Though she was personally unavailable for the Tamil delegation, Mrs Gandhi had sent word to Prime Minister Singh recommending he meet the Lankan MPs, the Asian Age reported.
The previous administration in Tamil Nadu of AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa had cracked the whip on anyone even mildly supporting the LTTE.
But by late last year, even the AIADMK was warming to the Eelam cause.
Now there are public rallies almost every day by various Tamil parties across the state, either demonstrating against the Sri Lankan government for the ‘genocide’ of Tamils in the island or, last week, condoling the death of LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham. His black-bordered posters are plastered all over Chennai and elsewhere in the state.
Indeed, the pro-Eelam support has never been so high-pitched since the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by the Tamil Tigers in 1991, the Asian Age reported.
Tamil Nationalist Movement leader Pazha Nedumaran arranged a well-attended condolence meet for “Balanna” (Balasingham) in the city last week.
Dravidar Kazhagam leader K. Veeramani, presided over yet another condolence meeting last Thursday, at which Mr Karunanidhi’s daughter, Kanimozhi, was among the important speakers, urging that India should step in to halt the Eelam tragedy.
The Eelam supporters have bagged a star campaigner now in Ms Kanimozhi, the chief minister’s daughter, who makes no bones about her strong feelings in support of the Tigers, who she insists are the “sole representatives of the Lankan Tamils.”
“The sooner India acknowledges this by lifting the ban against the LTTE the better. The Tigers have expressed regret (for the Rajiv assassination) and we should leave things at that. We should not get stuck to the past and continue making more mistakes. Instead, we must move towards a solution and take the LTTE along, because only they are the true representatives of the Lankan Tamils,” Ms Kanimozhi said.
It is unlikely that she has not discussed her Eelam views with her father and it is even more unlikely she would pursue her line if he had objected, the Asian Age opinioned.
Meanwhile, pro-Eelam rallies continued in Chennai with the Dravidar Kazhagam organising an all-party "human chain" last Friday in which the ruling DMK too participated.
"We are condemning the attacks on Tamil civilians by the Sinhala forces and the continued denial of food to people in Jaffna by the closure of the A-9 highway. India must intervene," said DK president K. Veeramani, who lead Friday’s demonstration.
