As Tigers face extermination, Dravidian leaders roar for votes
When Muthuvel Karunanidhi went on a surprise fast this morning on the Tamil Eelam issue, some thought he was a bit too late, considering that his bete noire and AIADMK prima donna J Jayalalithaa had already gone on a fast more than a month-and-a-half ago on the same. When he called off the fast before lunch hour and after "assurances" from Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, things got clearer: Tamil Eelam issue has become an election issue in Tamil Nadu.
And this should be a specimen of study for journalists, political observers and just anybody desperately trying to make sense of the political cauldron called Tamil Nadu. For, this is a classical case of politicians competing to assemble, if not invent, an emotional election issue in the absence of one. This beats the conventional design of campaign rhetoric that is catalysed around an already existing public mood.
But for the sporadic spurts from Vaiko, Nedumaran, Thirumavalavan and S Ramadoss, Tamil Eelam has more than less remained a subdued issue till Jayalalithaa went on a fast on March 10. It was easy to presume that Jayalalithaa had heeded to some bad advice. That presumption still appears valid, but the fast did stun Karunanidhi and, for the first time, triggered serious discussions if Eelam would be an election issue.
Karunanidhi waited an uneasy wait and, as the war in Sri Lanka reached a crescendo, took the plunge on April 19, saying Prabhakaran is his friend and that the LTTE leader is not a terrorist. As his ally Congress made its distaste clear, Karunanidhi tried to eat his words the very next day, but kept chewing on his options as Sri Lanka refused to entertain India’s and international communities’ call for a ceasefire.
Then came Jayalalithaa's bombshell last Saturday: Eelam is the only solution to the Sri Lankan problem. Amidst reports of Prabhakaran planning to escape by a submarine, as Sri Lanka prepared for the final assault on the 12 sq km coastal strip where the LTTE’s left-over fighters and a debatable number of civilians were confined to, an MDMK functionary forwarded a text message (with a request to “forward it to everyone… since u r going to SAVE A LIFE thru sms). The message that made the rounds late on Sunday (April 26) said that the Sri Lankan president has ordered the army to use chemical weapons to destroy LTTE and it would cost some 15,000 Tamilians' lives. At 6 o’clock the next morning, Karunanidhi was wheeled to the Anna Samadhi by the Marina beach for the fast.
“Let me be yet another victim of Sri Lankan President Rajapakse. This is my sacrifice for the Tamil cause,” Karunanidhi said. Powerful words, indeed, that had Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calling him up immediately.
The three-decade old ethnic strife and war in the island nation had cost thousands of lives – that of Tamils and Sinhalese. There have been credible reports that the India government has been aiding Sri Lanka in surveillance during the war. Both Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa have been aware of this, but it took an election for them to fast and be furious. If consistency is anything to thrust legitimacy over the Eelam issue upon someone, Vaiko should get that, but not these two leaders. It is another matter that Vaiko has considered Eelam his political oxygen in Tamil Nadu.
Coming back to where we started, Tamil Eelam is now an election issue, an election campaign issue. But then, will it be an electoral issue? This election issue is cobbled up by politicians, but for that to become an electoral issue, it needs the participation of the electorate. A Tamilian – or any other Indian – has the right to sympathise with his brethren facing genocide in the neighbouring country. But it becomes an electoral issue only when the voters – you and me – decide that it weighs on our decision to vote for the formation of a government in India.
Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa are trying.
